OAP jailed for kill threat to woman he met in rehab

 • 1h ago

A pensioner who harassed a woman he met in an alcohol treatment centre and threatened to kill her and her ex-boyfriend has been jailed for eight months.

Thomas McDermott (77) threatened to “blow the f**kin head” off the woman’s former boyfriend and called her “unspeakable” names. 

The victim recognised McDermott’s voice, but he also identified himself by name on some of the messages, a court heard.

The OAP left some 14 messages on the victim’s phone, lasting more than 27 minutes, over a period of 30 hours.

McDermott, of Brookdale Grove in Swords, had denied harassment and making threats to kill.

Finding him guilty and sentencing him, Judge Dermot Dempsey also ordered McDermott to have no contact with the victim for five years.

Garda Frank McGrath told Swords District Court the accused left voice messages on the victim’s phone on June 13 and June 14, 2021, containing threats towards her and her ex-boyfriend. 

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In one message, he said he would “blow his f**kin head off”. In another, he said he wanted to kill the man and “put a bullet through his head”.

He also called the woman “unspeakable names”, made threats to “do things” to her house, and made comments about her child and parents.

When interviewed by gardaí, McDermott accepted he left the messages, telling officers “I must have had a few jars”.

McDermott said he “never meant no harm”, and he would never carry out the threats.

He also said the victim knew he would never carry out the threats.

In her evidence, the victim said McDermott had been kind to her and they developed a friendship after meeting in a treatment centre, but the messages left her “terrified”.

Defence solicitor Bernard Stobie put it to her that she knew McDermott would never fulfil the threats.

“Sober no, but with drink I don’t know,” she said.