SICK PORN FANTASIES 0F SHARON STALKER
RTE news anchor harassed by twisted loner O’hora
A DEPRAVED stalker who made up twisted images of RTE news anchor Sharon Ni Bheolain told gardai it was a “fantasy” and never meant her harm.
Conor O’hora, 41, pleaded guilty to a charge of harassment of the star and to three counts of possession of child pornography.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard he told gardai: “Not something I am proud of, it is ridiculous to think she would have any interest in me. It’s a fantasy thing.”
The loner circulated doctored images of the star from magazines and newspapers in his sick crimes.
Judge Martin Nolan said the accused “knew the distress this would cause”.
A CHILD porn pervert admitted he had a “sick mind” after stalking Sharon Ni Bheolain, a court heard yesterday.
Horrific evidence was heard at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court as Judge Martin Nolan considered his sentence for Conor O’hora.
The 41-year-old pleaded guilty to a charge of harassing the RTE presenter and to three counts of possession of child pornography.
The court heard in a Garda interview O’hora said: “Not something I am proud of, it is ridiculous to think she would have any interest in me. It’s a fantasy thing.”
Det Gda Padraic Hanley said O’hora used images of Ms Ni Bheolain from magazines and newspapers in his evil crime.
He circulated doctored images of the news anchor with her head superimposed on pornographic images.
He also carried out the same process with child porn images of three children, aged two, eight and 11.
Judge Nolan was told O’hora, of Heather Walk, Portmarnock, Dublin, then uploaded these images to pornographic website Imagefap where his username was “whore-slut-tramp”.
It has since removed the images following a Garda request.
Det Gda Hanley revealed as part of the investigation O’hora’s home was searched and they seized a desktop computer and mobile phone on which the images were found.
Gardai recovered around 97 pornographic images of children being abused.
The trawl led to the harassment case and the charges of child porn possession. Gardai exam- ined 20,000 lines of data and revealed most of the images were at category one level – meaning they were at the most explicit stage.
Gardai found pictures in which O’hora had performed sex acts over some of the images.
He also began engaging with another man, based in Cork, on Yahoo Chat between October 20, 2013 to February 6, 2014.
The two had conversations in which they discussed committing “rape and sexual assault in the presence of the mother” of two separate children. They also discussed gang rape of an other child.
O’hora also invited the other sicko to Dublin to view the house of one of the children.
The second man received an 18-month suspended jail term at Cork Circuit Criminal Court. It is now being appealed by the DPP on grounds of leniency.
Det Gda Hanley told the court when arrested O’hora fully co-operated with gardai and volunteered usernames and passcodes.
He said the accused had come to garda attention for a minor road traffic offence four
Looking back, I am a bit shocked I had a sick mind at the time conor o’hora in garda interview
years previously – but had nothing more serious on his record.
The garda added O’hora had never met Ms Ni Bheolain. When asked by Judge Nolan about his motivation the garda said: “It appears he had a fixation with women of a certain age he found attractive.”
The judge asked was the presenter “unlucky” but the detective said she was a “very public figure” and this drew attention to her.
During six interviews by gardai during his detention he made a large number of admissions and explained his actions.
He said: “I don’t wish her any harm, I do like her, this is just a fantasy, but I don’t wish her any harm.”
Defence barrister Pieter Levert told the court his client had uploaded the altered images of Ms Ni Bheolain online so other people could “get a jolly from it”.
The lawyer said O’hora wanted other people in other parts of the world to see a “hot Irish woman”. In another interview the twisted stalker said: “This is a really bad fantasy. It is just in my head and I have never raped anybody.”
The court heard O’hora claimed he was smoking 12 to 15 joints of cannabis a day and drinking alcohol and spent up to 18 hours in his bedroom.
When asked in an interview what action he would take he said: “Get help, the right help”. The court also heard he accepted he caused Ms Ni Bheolain stress and admitted the images were disgusting.
He told gardai: “Looking back to it, I am a little bit shocked that I had a sick mind at the time.” Mr Levert said his client had been glassed in the face at a house party following his Leaving Cert in 1999. This had left a disfiguring scar on his neck. O’hora had worked in bars in Dublin city and had “done well” – owning his own house. He then experienced three armed robberies in pubs where he was working – one of the incidents resulted in a gun put to his head.
After this he moved in with his parents and the defence claimed that his drug abuse and isolation increased.
He had been working as a driving instructor before his arrest but lost that job – he then got a job as a truck driver but received serious injuries when a pallet fell on his foot.
He was in hospital for three weeks and surgeons put metal plates in the injury to reconstruct broken bones.
The court also heard he was at the lowest category of reoffending.
Judge Nolan said he was “in no doubt the accused knew the distress this would cause”.
The judge added: “This was an unusual but insidious form of harassment. These were widely viewed images and knowledge of this caused distress and trauma to the complainant.”
He remanded O’hora in custody and will pass sentence later today.