Garda who impersonated colleague online and encouraged men to rape her ‘was trusted family friend'

Sunday World

2 days ago

'calculated violence' |
Flanagan posed as the woman on a fetish website and encouraged two men to come to her home and rape her
Shane Flanagan
Shane Flanagan (39) with an address in Co Clare impersonated the woman on the fetish website, FetLife.com, and on Facebook for the purpose of arranging for people to come to her home and rape her.
He created the accounts using the woman's personal information, and shared details including her address, and photos of her and her daughters
Detective Garda Paul English told Anne-Marie Lawlor SC, prosecuting, that the woman and Flanagan were friends and there had never been any romantic or sexual history between them.
Det Gda English said the woman was extremely shocked to find out that Flanagan was the one who had been impersonating her online. 'If you gave me a list of 500 names of people that could have done this to me, I would never have guessed it was him,' the woman told the investigation.
Flanagan pleaded guilty to two counts of inciting two men to rape the woman on dates between November and December 2020.
He also pleaded guilty to six counts of endangerment, in that he intentionally or recklessly engaged in impersonating the woman in Facebook communications, and on the website FetLife.com and in which communications invited persons unknown to visit violence upon her and two others, thereby creating a substantial risk of death or serious harm on dates between 2018 and 2020.
Flanagan also pleaded guilty to one count of possession of four images of child sexual abuse material, known in law as child pornography, on January 7, 2021. He has no previous convictions.
Reading her victim impact statement, the woman said Flanagan was a fellow garda, someone she had trusted and called a friend, who was supposed to uphold the same professional values.
She said he not only betrayed her, but took her career. She said Flanagan 'plotted' to have her and her daughters attacked, and that he 'planned for men to find us and carry out unspeakable acts of violence'.
She said this was a 'betrayal beyond words'. She said she no longer feels safe in her own home, has developed anxiety and panic attacks, and that her trust in others has been damaged.
She said no sentence could undo the harm caused and told the court this was not just a 'betrayal of friendship' but a 'calculated predatory act of violence that has left lifelong scars' for her and her daughters.
The woman asked the court to impose a just sentence to reflect the safety of others and restore trust in the institution of An Garda Síochána.
The court heard that the woman became aware that someone was using her image on Fetlife.com after a user of that website contacted her on her genuine Facebook page in 2020.
In December 2020, she created an account on Fetlife and while pretending to be a man interacted with the user pretending to be her. The court heard during this interaction, information was shared about her, her address and that she has two teenage daughters. She then made a complaint to gardaí.
Evidence was heard of an extensive investigation, which connected the Fetlife account impersonating the woman to Flanagan.
His home was searched on January 17, 2021 and items including a phone and laptop were seized. Flanagan provided passwords for these devices and for an email address.
An analysis of these devices by the Garda National Cyber Crime Unit identified over 2,000 screenshots from Pulse, 32 records of missing persons and 18 images of garda age identification documents.
The log in details for the Fetlife.com account were autosaved to the browser and this site was accessed 4,089 times between October 2020 and mid-January 2021.
Four images of child abuse material were also found on the laptop.
The investigation also found that Flanagan had created a false Facebook account in the name of 'Laura O'Riordan', again using the injured party's information.
Det Sgt English told the court that hundreds of images of the woman, including 219 doctored ones were found as part of the search.
Two of the users of Fetlife.com who interacted with Flanagan while he pretended to be the woman provided statements to gardaí. Flanagan incited them to break into the woman's house and rape her.
Both genuinely believed they were talking to a woman who had a fetish for 'CNC' or consensual non consent. These situations involve one party, typically female, agreeing for another party to carry out a rape at an agreed location.
Ms Lawlor told the court these men believed they were speaking to the woman, who was consenting to them individually coming to her home to rape her, which she had consented to in advance.
Details of these sexually graphic conversations were read to the court. One of these men, who lives in the UK, told gardaí that this person must 'really hate' the victim to go to these lengths.
In one message to this man, Flanagan – pretending to be the woman – said her fantasy was for someone to stalk her, break into her home while she was asleep or to kidnap her while she was jogging. Flanagan shared details of the woman's address, her Eircode and that she has two daughters.
Details of Flanagan's interactions with 12 other users of Fetlife.com, who could not be identified by gardaí, were described to the court. These conversations included graphic descriptions of sexual violence, torture, rape and cannibalism.
Flanagan also shared information including the woman's address, a Google Street view of her home and invited the users to come to the woman's home to rape her. He also told these users that the woman was a single parent with two teenage daughters.
Flanagan, while pretending to be the woman, also asked some users if they were available that night.
Some of these 12 users indicated they lived in Ireland, or in towns or cities near to the woman's address, the court heard. Flanagan replied: 'Oh cool, you're not living too far away', when one man said he lived nearby.
Another user, who also indicated they lived near to the woman replied 'good, secure, abandoned buildings to have some fun in', when Flanagan referred to a particular town. Flanagan also shared a route jogged by the woman with another user.
Under the alias of 'Laura O'Riordan', Flanagan engaged in similar conversations using Facebook Messenger. He shared photos of the woman, her children, gave out her address, Eircode and shared a screenshot of a route she runs taken from the Strava app.
One of the exchanges on Facebook outlined a roleplay scenario about the rape and torture of the woman and her daughters while another referred to spiking the children using sleeping tablets.
Det Sgt English said the 'Laura O'Riordan' Facebook account came to light during the investigation. Gardaí identified that Flanagan reported it to the social media site as a fake account following the search of his home, but Facebook refused to delete it.
Ms Lawlor said the endangerment charges against Flanagan relate to the invitation to these individuals to carry out violence on the woman represented a significant risk to her life and those of her children.
In a victim impact statement, the woman's older daughter said Flanagan had been a family friend for a long time and she now looks back on past events wondering if she missed any signs.
She said she experienced a loss of trust in others and spoke of the impact of this going on in the background while attending school. She also spoke of experiencing nightmares and noted that her mother had tried to protect them from finding out what had happened for as long as possible.
Flanagan was interviewed six times in February 2022. He made some admissions, including to ownership of the devices. He confirmed knowing the woman and when material was put to him replied 'everything you've shown me there, that was me'.
He apologised to the woman and admitted communicating with between 20 and 30 individuals while pretending to be the woman. He described it as 'harmless roleplay'.
Det Sgt English agreed with Padraig Dwyer SC, defending, that his client retired from the gardaí in March this year and had an 'unblemished' record of service.
Testimonials from family members, probation and psychological reports were handed to the court.
Mr Dywer read a letter of apology from his client to the court. Flanagan said he felt 'deep guilt, shame' and understands now that 'I did not just cause fear, I destroyed a sense of fear, dignity and trust' and stole the victims' peace of mind.
He said 'this has been a sobering and painful experience for me' and that he is seeking help to address his issues.
Defence counsel asked the court to take into account his client's guilty pleas, the contents of the reports and that his time in custody will be more onerous as he was a garda. Flanagan was suspended from the force in 2021, retiring in March this year.
Mr Dwyer noted the reports refer to his client suffering with suicidal ideation. His client is assessed at low to medium risk of re-offending.
Counsel said a protective factor is 'the absence of hostility to women' and his client's actions appeared 'rooted in imagination or fantasy, not reality', though in this case, the actions 'did translate into more than just a fantasy'.
Ms Justice Eileen Creedon remanded Flanagan in custody for finalisation of sentence next month.
Helplines: If you have been affected by the contents of this article, click here for more information