Man given 20-year ban from Ireland for harassment appears in Cork court on fresh charge of breaching court order

A man who was banned from Ireland for 20 years for harassing a woman in Cork and ordered to stay away from her wrote a song for her which he sent online and travelled back from the UK in November - and in court today he declared: “I am the king of Ireland.” 

The 37-year-old signed a plea of guilty to a fresh charge of breaching the court order but when he was brought in to Cork Circuit Criminal Court by prison officers from the custody area he raised his voice and spoke in extremely colourful and abusive terms.

Asked by the registrar if he was affirming his signed plea of guilty, he said: “I don’t understand a f***ing word you are saying.” 

Then he added, “I am the king of Ireland… I am the king of the Republic of Ireland. I am f***ing off, this is f***ing mental.” 

Judge Helen Boyle then sought to clarify the issue saying to the accused: “You have signed a plea of guilty. Do you wish affirm it?” He replied in similar terms.

When a barrister stood in court, the defendant shouted at him: “Sit the f*** down you f***ing queer. Put me back in prison. I am Mandela.” 

Judge Boyle said to him: “You really are not.” He then verbally abused the judge.

Defence barrister Paula McCarthy spoke with the accused during a brief adjournment and returned to court to tell the judge that she was instructed to tell the court that he had a cure for cancer, for which he would be paid a sum of more than €800 million and that it would be paid to him by President Donald Trump.

Against these kind of instructions, Ms McCarthy said that 15 minutes before the defendant’s outburst he had given perfectly clear instructions and indicated his willingness to affirm his signed plea of guilty. 

Ms McCarthy said that members of the defendant’s family would be travelling from the UK and would meet with him in custody. 

The barrister said that he had left an institution in the UK of his own volition where he had been receiving psychiatric care and come to Ireland in November 2024.

Conditions imposed on him in Cork Circuit Criminal Court in June 2022 required him to stay away for 20 years and not to communicate in any way with the woman he had harassed. 

For legal reasons, the accused was not identified in that case which forms the background to the present case.

The matter will be back before Judge Boyle on Friday, February 7.

In the case from June 2022, there was a sexual assault consisting of him slapping her on the backside and then laughing and walking away. 

It was also noted that while the harassment initially consisted of persistent unwanted attention it went on to become more concerning as he began to stalk her. 

She would see him regularly walking up and down in front of her home and sometimes stopping outside.