A man who hacked into a woman's e-mail to find her Irish address after she fled his long obsession and harassment has been given five years imprisonment in consecutive terms.
Lukasz Juszcak harassed Magda Okinezyc (24) for six years in Poland and then stalked her Dublin residence where he threatened to kill or injure her boyfriend, Thomas Pluta, and caused criminal damage to the apartment door.
Juszcak (24), from Poznam, pleaded guilty to harassing Ms Okinezyc at the Steelworks Apartment Complex in Foley Street, near the city centre, on dates from October 19th to November 30th, 2006; to causing criminal damage there on November 24th, 2006, and to threatening to kill Mr Pluta three days later.
Garda Lisa Nolan told prosecuting counsel Damien Colgan BL that she arrested Juszcak on November 30th at Dublin airport when he was about to return to Poland while on bail for the threat to kill Mr Pluta.
Garda Nolan told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that Mr Pluta had been horrified to find Juszcak on the same flight as him from Poland to Ireland earlier in November 2006. Ms Okinezyc knew Juszcak in Poland and feared his obsessional stalking of her so much she fled to Ireland.
She was horrified in October 2006 to find him on the stairs of her apartment building and did not know how he found out where she resided. He continued to stalk her there and was arrested but released on bail some days later on condition that he would stay away from her.
Garda Nolan said Juszcak continued returning to Ms Okinezyc's apartment and damaged the front door on one occasion so he could look in through the "spyhole" rather than the residents looking out. He also issued the threat to kill or injure Mr Pluta.
Garda Nolan agreed with defence counsel John Fitzgerald BL that Juszcak told gardaí he believed he was "in love" with Ms Okinezyc and "made frank admissions" about how he had hacked into her's and Mr Pluta's e-mail messages to learn her Dublin address. Mr Colgan noted the victim impact report showed both victims still feared Juszcak and were concerned for their future though they had returned to Poland.
Judge Patricia Ryan refused defence requests that Juszcak be allowed return to Poland to continue psychiatric treatment there.
She said Juszcak had breached his bail twice and was on bail when he threatened to kill Mr Pluta before Garda Nolan caught him leaving the jurisdiction. He had got a suspended sentence in Poland for harassing the victim before "in a very clever way" he followed her here.