Man, 27, jailed over threat to share intimate images of ex
‘Pushing the wrong buttons today darling’
A MAN who threatened to send intimate pictures of his ex-partner to her family and friends after she refused to allow him access to her Netflix account has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.
Stephen Coveney Ryan appeared in court charged with threatening to distribute or publish an intimate image without the consent of another person with the intent to cause harm or being reckless as to whether harm is caused to the other person, to which he pleaded guilty.
On the same date, January 23, 2022, at an unknown place, he was also charged with making threats to kill the same woman.
Letterkenny Circuit Court in Co. Donegal heard the couple had been in a relationship but had split and the woman had taken out a barring order against 27-year-old Coveney Ryan in March 2022.
The accused tried to communicate with her by changing his Netflix profile on her account and leaving a message for her. The contents of the message cannot be published so as not to identify the victim.
Gardaí advised the woman to cut off all contact with Coveney Ryan and as part of this she changed her Netflix login.
She also checked all her social media messages including Facebook, WhatsApp and others.
On March 7, she noticed older Facebook messages from a person using the profile John McGuinness.
She said that Coveney Ryan sometimes used this name.
Messages were left on the woman’s Facebook messenger account threatening her. The McGuinness account (used by Coveney Ryan) threatened that he would distribute intimate pictures if he was not allowed back into the Netflix account.
Coveney Ryan, who was raised in Tipperary but is now incarcerated, said the woman had three hours or he would start sharing the intimate pictures with her family and friends.
In another message, he warned she was ‘pushing the wrong buttons today darling’ and added ‘f*** with me and I will kill you today’.
A letter of apology written by the accused was read out in court by his barrister, Patrick Gageby.
The court was told Coveney Ryan has 12 previous convictions and they include making threats to kill or cause serious harm, thefts, possession of a controlled drug, public order and burglary.
A victim impact statement from the woman was also handed into the court but was not read out.
Mr Gageby said he appreciated the court had to impose a consecutive sentence as this offence was committed while Coveney Ryan was on bail for an offence for which he is now serving a custodial sentence.
He referred Judge John Aylmer to a report by psychologist Dr Kevin Lambe saying it reflected a very sad story. He said his client is due for release from jail on March 5.
Judge Aylmer noted an aggravating factor was that the offence was committed while Coveney Ryan was out on bail. He placed the incident in the mid-range of such offences and ruled that it merited a sentence of three years in jail before mitigation.
Judge Aylmer said it also appeared Coveney Ryan was taking concrete steps while in prison and because of that he would reduce the sentence to two-and-a-half years. He also suspended the final 12 months.