Cork teenager who threatened to kill another released from custody to sit his Leaving Cert
A teenager who harassed and threatened to kill another teenager was released from custody on Tuesday so that he could sit his Leaving Cert, but with the strict warning not to contact the victim or her family or even to use social media for any purpose.
Judge Sinead Behan said she could not make it clearer for Rory Lally, saying: 'If you contact this girl I will put you in jail.' The judge released the young man from custody and adjourned the case until June 30.
'If you contact this girl or her family, the guards are going to bring you back in and I am going to send you to jail,' Judge Behan said.
Elaine Audley, defence barrister, said he would need access to the internet for study purposes to prepare for the Leaving Cert. The judge said he could have such access supervised by his father or other appropriate adult.
Detective Sergeant Pat Lyons said the defendant's family were very supportive and did their best by him. Ms Audley said the young man was prescribed medication as a result of an autism diagnosis but that one of the medicines was replaced with a generic version which had an adverse effect on him.
Ms Audley raised this in the context of four communications which the accused had by phone with the victim and her father in the weeks following his release from a sentence for harassment.
That breach in the conditions of a suspended portion of his sentence resulted in him spending the last few weeks back in jail until his release on Tuesday. In one text he said: 'I'm out now and I'm coming for you'.
Now aged 20, Rory Lally of Wainsfort, Rochestown, Cork, originally got a sentence of two years, the second year being suspended on condition that he would not contact the victim directly or indirectly.
Rory Lally got into the witness box at Cork Circuit Criminal Court on Tuesday and said: 'I guarantee everyone I won't be in this situation again. 1. I don't want to do it to her (the victim). 2. I cannot do any more prison.'
Harassment
Last year he pleaded guilty to harassment of the teenager when she was 17 and he was approximately a year older.
Det. Garda Pat Connery said the injured party started communicating with Rory Lally on social media in April 2023 and in June 2023 they met at a concert in Cork. However, she felt uncomfortable with him at the concert and soon afterwards told him by phone to stop calling her. She went on to block him on social media.
He ignored this and continued to contact her causing her such concern that she contacted gardaí in July 2023 and they contacted him and told him to desist. The messaging continued. She complained to gardaí again in October and they approached him once more and told him to stop contacting her.
By November 2023, Rory Lally was telling her he did not care if she contacted gardaí and that he would do life in prison. She contacted the guards again in December and he sent voice messages threatening to kill her.
Det. Garda Connery went to the young man's home: 'I told him I was investigating the complaint against him. While I was in the house he sent further threatening messages to her.
'He said he was obsessed with the injured party. He admitted sending her messages. He said he would not physically harm her. He had to be brought before a special sitting of Cork District Court on Christmas Eve.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Daily Mirror
22-05-2025
- Irish Daily Mirror
Sex assault victim struggled to cope & wanted to die after abuse
A young woman who was repeatedly sexually assaulted while working as a babysitter revealed she struggled to cope and wanted to die for years after the McHugh said her self-worth 'totally vanished' when twisted brute Martin O'Brien, who was jailed for six years in December, began assaulting her in 2012 while she was a Galway native revealed counselling and therapy were what helped her to find the strength to report what she went through. She told how she had begun working as a music teacher before becoming the family's babysitter in the summer of 2012. Aine said things were never 'normal,' and she was emotionally abused by O'Brien before he began sexually assaulting her. The young woman revealed the sicko used to tell her that she would be 'so pretty' if she lost 'a bit of weight.' Aine said she was already insecure, and hearing these comments from a grown man 'chipped' away at her confidence. She said that while babysitting, she didn't have a bed and would sleep on the sofa in the sitting room once he and his wife returned from a night out. Describing how the abuse escalated from emotional to physical, Aine said after he came back one evening, he forced himself onto her as if she was an 'animal' in the sitting room. Speaking on 'Breaking the Silence', a Newstalk original podcast in conjunction with Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, Aine added: 'From that very first assault all my feelings of any value or worth, totally, any feelings that I had as a 16 year old girl, totally vanished. 'So, like I'm from a very normal rural community and he would have been friendly with extended family and other neighbours and it just wasn't an option for me to tell someone because I thought I was wrong.' The abuse then "multiplied" and was accompanied by the 'most degrading, demeaning comments' about Aine's body. Aine said she made a number of attempts to stop babysitting for O'Brien but he then began to contact her mum asking if she could speak to her said her mum knew O'Brien and encouraged her to go because she considered it a 'safe space' to make some pocket money. Aine eventually put her foot down and didn't return, but things escalated again when O'Brien began following her to public spaces where he would also assault her. She explained that she never thought the abuse would end, and it took hold of her life. Aine said she wasn't able to get out of bed, go to her Debs, her graduation, or focus on her Leaving Cert as a result. To cope, Aine turned to alcohol 'to escape,' which led to her becoming an alcoholic. She continued: 'You know, I look now at my little cousins or friends' children that I know who are doing their exams and it's like an exciting, like, it's an exciting time. You're looking forward to your future. You're thinking about the CAO. It just, like, I put more effort into thinking how am I going to end my life." The abuse also had a ripple effect on Aine's home life, she explained: 'People were probably looking in at our house and saying, like, 'what's going on with that girl', you know? Could she not just settle?' And 'her poor mother' and 'her poor father'. And the only person who knew the cause of all my problems, was Martin O'Brien. 'And while he was out in our local community, building relationships and forming friendships and being a great community man - My home, myself, my body, my mind, and my family, we were totally disrupted, disorientated. 'He thrived off that and he showed up at places like funerals and to my front door with a local politician canvassing all in the space of time, I was just trying to go from morning to night.' Aine said the turning point was during the Covid-19 pandemic but was kickstarted in 2018 when she got sober. She added: 'I wanted to live. And I knew I was going to die if I continued on the way I lived. And I knew that maybe some people hoped I would, that I would never be able to report what had happened to me." Aine said she initially feared she wouldn't be 'believed' but praised the Gardai from the Protective Services Unit for their professionalism. She said that she has learned that 'there are people who are going to support you and there are people who won't and there will be people who will not believe you and they will look and turn the blind eye.' Aine added: 'And they, at times, can reinforce that self-doubt. And that lack of self-worth. But, for me today now, being at the other side of it, they really don't matter. They really. Yeah, they really don't matter.' Last year, O'Brien of Gurrane, Belclare, Tuam, Co Galway pleaded guilty to four charges of sexual assault on dates between June 1, 2012, and February 2014. In December, Mr Justice Naidoo imposed a six-and-a-half-year term. He suspended the final six months of the term on strict conditions including that he engage with the Probation Service for 12 months – 'in the hope that it will help him gain insight into the impact on the victim."
Irish Examiner
20-05-2025
- Irish Examiner
Cork teenager who threatened to kill another released from custody to sit his Leaving Cert
A teenager who harassed and threatened to kill another teenager was released from custody on Tuesday so that he could sit his Leaving Cert, but with the strict warning not to contact the victim or her family or even to use social media for any purpose. Judge Sinead Behan said she could not make it clearer for Rory Lally, saying: 'If you contact this girl I will put you in jail.' The judge released the young man from custody and adjourned the case until June 30. 'If you contact this girl or her family, the guards are going to bring you back in and I am going to send you to jail,' Judge Behan said. Elaine Audley, defence barrister, said he would need access to the internet for study purposes to prepare for the Leaving Cert. The judge said he could have such access supervised by his father or other appropriate adult. Detective Sergeant Pat Lyons said the defendant's family were very supportive and did their best by him. Ms Audley said the young man was prescribed medication as a result of an autism diagnosis but that one of the medicines was replaced with a generic version which had an adverse effect on him. Ms Audley raised this in the context of four communications which the accused had by phone with the victim and her father in the weeks following his release from a sentence for harassment. That breach in the conditions of a suspended portion of his sentence resulted in him spending the last few weeks back in jail until his release on Tuesday. In one text he said: 'I'm out now and I'm coming for you'. Now aged 20, Rory Lally of Wainsfort, Rochestown, Cork, originally got a sentence of two years, the second year being suspended on condition that he would not contact the victim directly or indirectly. Rory Lally got into the witness box at Cork Circuit Criminal Court on Tuesday and said: 'I guarantee everyone I won't be in this situation again. 1. I don't want to do it to her (the victim). 2. I cannot do any more prison.' Harassment Last year he pleaded guilty to harassment of the teenager when she was 17 and he was approximately a year older. Det. Garda Pat Connery said the injured party started communicating with Rory Lally on social media in April 2023 and in June 2023 they met at a concert in Cork. However, she felt uncomfortable with him at the concert and soon afterwards told him by phone to stop calling her. She went on to block him on social media. He ignored this and continued to contact her causing her such concern that she contacted gardaí in July 2023 and they contacted him and told him to desist. The messaging continued. She complained to gardaí again in October and they approached him once more and told him to stop contacting her. By November 2023, Rory Lally was telling her he did not care if she contacted gardaí and that he would do life in prison. She contacted the guards again in December and he sent voice messages threatening to kill her. Det. Garda Connery went to the young man's home: 'I told him I was investigating the complaint against him. While I was in the house he sent further threatening messages to her. 'He said he was obsessed with the injured party. He admitted sending her messages. He said he would not physically harm her. He had to be brought before a special sitting of Cork District Court on Christmas Eve.'
The Journal
14-05-2025
- The Journal
Driver jailed for seven years over Monaghan debs crash that killed two teenagers
LAST UPDATE | 31 mins ago A MONAGHAN MAN who admitted to dangerous driving causing the deaths of two teenagers making their way to a debs ball has been sentenced to seven years in jail. 61-year-old Anthony McGinn of Drumloo, Newbliss had last week pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the deaths of 17-year-old Kiea McCann and 16 year old Dlava Mohammed. On 31 July 2023, Kiea and Dlava were making their way to the debs ball in the Western Arms Hotel along with Dlava's sister Avin. The car they were travelling in, driven by McGinn, struck a tree at Legnakelly, Clones, killing Kiea, Dlava, and seriously injuring Avin. At a hearing last week at Monaghan Circuit Criminal Court, Senior Investigating Officer Ann-Marie Lardner told the court the primary cause of the accident was speed. According to an extensive forensic report, McGinn's average speed between Clones and the scene of the collision near the New Line junction was calculated to 138.85 km/h. The speed limit on that road is 80 km/h. In Garda interviews, the court heard that McGinn said he couldn't remember anything that happened, he only remembered getting into the car in Clones. Defence solicitors had appealed to the court to consider Anthony McGinn's lack of previous convictions, his low risk of reoffending, and his expression of remorse to the families when passing sentence. Judge John Aylmer set a headline sentence of nine years and reduced that to seven years on mitigation. McGinn was also disqualified from driving for 15 years. Victims Kiea McCann (left) and Dlava Mohammed (right) died in the crash in Monaghan on their way to a debs ball. Victim impact statements were read in court last week. Mohammed Mohammed, Dlava's father said how the light from his wife's eyes is now gone, and he wakes up with a broken heart every day. He described how his family left Syria in 2017 to chase their dreams, but now Dlava will never get the chance. Avin, who suffered serious injuries in the incident, said the crash changed her life forever, that it was supposed to be a happy night getting ready with her sister and her best friend for the debs. She said she told McGinn to slow down multiple times, and then everything went black. Advertisement She suffered five broken bones in her legs along with numerous other injuries such as fractured ribs, a punctured lung, and required multiple surgeries. The incident left her with life-changing injuries and she described how she can no longer draw, and had to attend speech and language therapy. Kiea's father, Frankie McCann also read a statement to the court last week. He said Kiea was a vibrant young girl with so much drive, who had aspirations to be a carer or social worker and who, despite her dyslexia, achieved merits and distinctions in her Leaving Cert. He said that performing CPR on her and her best friend in vain will stay with him forever. A statement read by Frankie on behalf of Teresa, Kiea's mother, described how her daughter's life has been robbed and that she received a headstone as her 18th birthday present. Kiea's sisters also read statements on how much they missed her, and how McGinn had destroyed their families' lives. Judge During sentencing, Judge John Aylmer said that aggravating circumstances included that McGinn was travelling at almost twice the speed limit in an 80 km/h zone. He also raised evidence that McGinn had 'ignored the somewhat angry pleas to desist from two of the frightened young passengers.' The judge said that the he was guilty of 'extraordinary breach of that trust' and that 'the devastating impact of your actions add to the aggravation in this case'. 'The intention was a very determined one to drive at a grossly excessive speed and thereby having a reckless disregard for the obvious potential for death and serious injury to result,' the judge said, adding that this places the offending at the upper scale. 'I have been asked to consider the fact that you too suffered very serious injuries in mitigation, but that provides little mitigation for you insofar as they were self-imposed. I note that you have since lost your marriage and your relationship with your children I'm told has become distant,' the judge said. 'I have regard to your deep sense of remorse. I heard from the families of the deceased that as far as they were concerned you did not show remorse. 'That is not the case but it is the case that you did not convey this to them, but there were reasons for this, such as the criminal case pending.' The judge said that McGinn has 'significant injuries arising from the collision' that would make prison more difficult. He said he would therefore reduce the headline sentence of nine years to one of seven-years in prison on each count, and those are to run concurrently to each other. - With reporting by Jack Cunnane Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
