A man who became obsessed with a launderette worker in Dublin has been ordered by Judge Dominic Lynch to leave the city.
James Gubbins (45), from Ballinlacken, Co Limerick, stalked and pestered the woman and her friend from December 1995, until he was arrested in October 1997.
His unwelcome attentions continued at first to June 1996, until she could take no more and resigned her job after becoming afraid he would attack her.
Garda Michael Cryan told Ms Isobel Kennedy, prosecuting, that Gubbins would often spend hours sitting in the launderette talking to the woman though she would not reply and made it clear she had no interest in him. He also brought her cigarettes and soft drinks which she would not accept.
He said Gubbins continued to pester the woman's friend in looking for her after she resigned her job and resumed pestering the woman herself when she returned from England.
Gubbins pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to harassing the women between August 19th and October 14th, 1997 "by persistently following, watching, pestering, besetting and communicating with them".
Judge Lynch adjourned sentence for one year on condition that Gubbins returned to live in Limerick and did not make any contact with the women or communicate with them in any way.
Garda Cryan told Ms Kennedy that Gubbins claimed he was the father of the woman's child and that he was engaged to her. When she was in England, he kept returning to the launderette asking for her and crying to staff that he loved the woman.
Gubbins called to a house where the woman's friend was with her boyfriend and continued banging on the door and looking through the letterbox demanding to know where the woman was. He resumed harassing the woman when she returned.
Mr Michael O'Higgins, defending, said medical reports indicated that Gubbins was mentally ill at the time of the offending. He had spent a large part of his nine months in custody in the Central Mental Hospital.
He said nine months in custody was the equivalent of a one-year sentence. Gubbins had lived in hostels in the Dublin area for about 20 years after the break-up of his marriage and was effectively homeless. His offending was not motivated by malice but because he suffered from delusions. The prognosis for his mental health was good.