Man’s ‘nightmare’ after false claim

ARKLOW MAN (31) WAS WRONGLY NAMED AS AN ONLINE CHILD PREDATOR

THE family of an Arklow man wrongly accused online of grooming children and texting an 11-year-old girl has spoken out about their anguish over the incident.

The nightmare unfolded on Sunday evening when a member of a group which claims to expose online predators posted a photograph and the name of a 31-year-old Arklow resident and accused him of being a child predator.

The post was shared hundreds of times and the Arklow man soon became the victim of a witch-hunt.

‘ This has shocked us to the core. How does a person come back from this? My brother received all sorts of horrific threats,’ said the man’s sister.

‘People told him they would take him up to the Wicklow Mountains. They told him to kill himself and they threatened to come and shoot him. My own address and a former address of my mother’s were posted online,’ she said.

The victim of the mistake, who was yesterday (Tuesday) too upset by the matter to be interviewed, is being supported by family members, while they decided what course of action to take.

‘When did these people become judge, jury and executioner? They could have had my brother’s blood on their hands. My whole family has been terrified by these threats. We didn’t sleep a wink that night, worrying that someone was going to come to our house. It was so scary,’ said the man’s sister.

She added that her brother is taking very little comfort from the fact that he has been publicly vindicated, as the entire incident should never have happened in the first place.

‘People were saying that at least now he has been proved innocent. He was always innocent and he didn’t need these lies spread about him. He’s never going to be able to forget this. There is a huge stigma involved and it has had a massive affect on him and the whole family,’ the Arklow woman said.

‘I understand what they [the online predator group] were trying to do, and we all want to protect our children, but I think that these groups should gather whatever evidence they can and hand it over to the guards rather than posting things online,’ she said.

Meanwhile, the man’s devastated mother has appealed to people to think very carefully before they share anything online.

‘We have no control over what people post or share on Facebook but they should stop and think. I wouldn’t wish this on anybody.

‘ Our whole family has been affected by this and, as a mother, it was very difficult to see my son go through this. We are relieved that his name has been cleared but it wouldn’t have happened in the first place if people weren’t so quick to share information tthat was not true,’ she said.

The man’s mother paid tribute to their friends and the many people in Arklow who have supported the family during this difficult time.

‘ The support has been overwhelming and it showed us that there are a lot of good people in Arklow,’ she said.