A Listowel man says he identified the murderer of a teenage girl because he was angry and has daughters of his own.
35-year-old Glen Dunphy of 53 Lartigue Village, Listowel pleaded guilty to a single charge under the Children Act 2001, when his case came before Listowel District Court today.
It’s was alleged that on the 20th June, 2019, within the state, Glen Dunphy did publish on his Twitter account the name of a minor, who was a child in proceedings before the Central Criminal Court.
Garda Adrian Gildea, who’s based in Dublin, gave the facts of the case.
He said, following the conviction of two teenage boys last year for the murder of a teenage girl, Glen Dunphy did an online search with the name of a radio station outside Kerry and the alias of one of the convicted murderers, in an effort to find the boy’s real name.
When he found this, he then posted the name on a Twitter thread, which was speculating on the boys’ identities.
A separate Court of Appeal ruling since currently prohibits the naming of deceased victims under the age of 18.
Garda Gildea said the tweet only contained the name of one of the two boys.
His solicitor Pat Mann put it to the garda that his client only sought out the boy’s name because he was angry over the killing and because he has daughters of his own, adding that Mr Dunphy admitted to the act and is sorry; the garda agreed.
Mr Mann also said his client didn’t originate the thread, but had contributed to it.
The court heard My Dunphy has previous convictions for road traffic and public order offences.
Pat Mann said his client is married, employed and has two daughters.
Judge David Waters said the charge was serious and he’d no doubt that Mr Dunphy knew he was doing something he shouldn’t.
He added a serious marker needs to be laid down, however, he decided against a custodial sentence.
Judge Waters fined Mr Dunphy €600 for the single charge.
