Rathfarnham man jailed for posting threatening videos towards Mary Lou McDonald and Garda Commissioner

By Eimear Dodd

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald has said she was afraid after a “threat of a coward” to shoot her, but would not allow any “bully” to prevent her doing her job.

Deputy McDonald made the comments in a victim impact statement read to the court during the sentence hearing of Richard McGreevy (29).

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that McGreevy posted videos to TikTok on July 16 last in which he made threats towards Deputy McDonald and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris.

These videos were viewed thousands of times on TikTok, and were also reposted to Facebook and X, formerly Twitter, the court was told.

McGreevy of Whitechurch Place, Rathfarmham, Co. Dublin pleaded guilty to two counts of making a threat to kill or cause harm. The maximum available sentence for this offence is 10 years.

McGreevy was yesterday handed a prison sentence of three and a half years, with the final 15 months suspended on strict conditions.

James Dwyer SC, defending, said his client is not a “political idealogue”, but rather an isolated, “lonely keyboard warrior” who acted “from impulse, not malice”, and failed to realise the impact of his actions.

The Sinn Fein leader and the Garda Commissioner were not in court during the sentence hearing.

In a victim impact statement read to the court by Antonia Boyle BL prosecuting, Deputy McDonald said like others in the public eye, she’d become accustomed to “routine abuse, aggression and causal threats” on social media.

But, this was different. “The direct threat to shoot me, to shoot me ‘for free’, the open willingness to harm me himself, and the implicit willingness to harm me on behalf of another”.

She said the video presentation was “bizarre, maybe even laughable”, but the threat was “real and chilling”. “I was afraid and angry. My family were enraged and afraid”.

She said she had the right to live and move without fear, like any other citizen, and this right goes to the core of her personal freedom and her ability to carry out her democratic role.

“The threat to shoot me ‘for free’ was the threat of a coward, designed to intimidate me and to encourage others to target me”.

She said the threat caused her distress, anxiety and anger but she added “I will not allow any bully to stop me from doing my job”.

Commissioner Harris declined to provide a victim impact statement, the court was told, as his view was his statement of complaint captured the impact on him.

The clips were played for Judge Martin Nolan from a laptop.

In them, McGreevy says “Drew Harris, you should be fucking taken out”, “dragged up to Dolphin’s Barn”, “taken to Dublin Castle” and executed.

He said the Garda Commissioner should be “shot in the head by the IRA, I’m not even joking…..Fuck you Drew Harris , you’re next, you’re getting it, I don’t give a fuck if I get years for it”.

McGreevy said “Drew Harris, I’m coming for you… I’ll rip your fucking head off”.

He also described the garda commissioner as an “English bastard”, “English speccy-eyed bastard”, and “little prick”.

McGreevy said he was making “a couple of videos about what happened yesterday.”

“Fuck Drew Harris, he’d be getting shot, fucking blasted.”

“See Mary Lou, I’ll shoot her myself for free, I’ll do her for free. Fucking little rats.”

McGreevy was arrested and after caution, he said “this is about those fucking posts to kill Mary Lou.  They were fucking stupid. I was expecting you”.

During interview, he told gardai he’d never had a video that had been viewed so many times, that he didn’t mean for it to go viral and he’d taken it down.

McGreevy expressed shame and remorse, saying he didn’t mean for anyone to feel hurt or threatened, but had wanted to rant, before acknowledging that he shouldn’t have said those things.

Part of his letter of apology was read to the court, in which McGreevy described his actions as “stupid”.

McGreevy said he “didn’t intend to cause distress with his words” and expressed his regret.

Defence counsel outlined his client’s background, adding that McGreevy has been using cannabis since he was a teenager but is drug-free since going into custody.

Mr Dwyer noted McGreevy has an acquired brain injury and suffered physical abuse as a child at the hands of a relative.

Counsel asked the court to take into account his client’s early guilty pleas, expressions of remorse, and personal circumstances.

Imposing sentence, Judge Nolan said these were “extreme and frightening threats” to two public figures, who were entitled to their peace of mind.

He said the videos would have been “very disturbing” for the injured parties, who would have a “very valid belief that contributions like this poison social discourse and give permission to certain individuals to behave in a certain violent way, particularly to public individuals”.

The judge said the threats made to Commissioner Harris were “odious” and noted Deputy McDonald’s “gracious” victim impact statement.

He said the threats were “very serious”, and while the court found “no intention on the part of this defendant to carry them out…nevertheless the injured parties were right to be worried about the contents [of these threats]”.

He said McGreevy has a “long, complicated and sad history” and the court inferred on the day in question that the defendant was “frustrated with life and had certain complaints”.

Having considered McGreevy’s background and the mitigation, Judge Nolan imposed a three-and-a-half year prison sentence, with the final 15 months suspended on strict conditions.

In her impact statement, the Sinn Finn leader noted that the “family of the perpetrator of this crime” had written to her to express solidarity with her and her family.

She thanked them for their decency, noting that the responsibility for the threat, and fear caused to her and her family lies with the perpetrator alone.

McGreevy has four previous convictions for offences including robbery and public order offences.

Detective Sergeant Gareth Kane told Ms Boyle that the Special Detective Unit began an investigation into videos posted on a TikTok account in the name of ‘Richard.Mcgreevy2’ on July 16 last.

These videos featured McGreevy in a blue jacket and balaclava making threats towards both injured parties.

The following day, Martin Lanigan, Deputy McDonald’s husband, made a complaint, outlining that he and his wife had viewed a video the night before on X in which a person threatened to kill her.

He expressed concern and said he was appalled.

Deputy McDonald made a statement to gardai on July 18 last.

She said she was having a cup of tea with her husband, after getting home from a public meeting when she opened her X account and noticed another account had tagged her about this video.

The Sinn Fein leader said she was alarmed, fearful and angry after viewing the video. She expressed fear that it had been posted online and that it might encourage others to do harm to her.

On July 26 last, Commissioner Harris also made a complaint about the video. He said he was concerned for his safety, and for that of his wife and family having been shown the footage.

The Garda Commissioner said he believed the threat to be real and credible, and due to his professional knowledge, believed the threat could be carried out.

A request was made to TikTok to preserve the footage, which was later downloaded by gardai.

McGreevy was identified as he was not wearing a balaclava in other clips posted to the account.

His house was searched on July 18 last while he was present, and items seized included a homemade balaclava, the blue jacket, a Nokia phone and a set of rosary beads he was seen wearing in a portion of the footage.

After his arrest, he was taken to Terenure Garda Station, where he was interviewed three times. McGreevy made full admissions, saying he was “silly” and shouldn’t have done it.

He said it was “fucking disgraceful” and done on the spur of the moment. McGreevy said he didn’t mean anything bad for either injured party.

He said he didn’t expect the video to go viral, and didn’t realise how much trouble he could get into. McGreevy also referred to mental health issues, family difficulties and issues with drugs.

Det Sgt Kane agreed with defence counsel that McGreevy’s offending took place around the same time as public disorder in Coolock, but there is no suggestion his client attended any rallies.

It was further accepted that McGreevy’s name was contained in his TikTok user handle, that it was not a complex investigation to identify him, and that he was arrested in the room where the video was made.

Det Sgt Kane agreed McGreevy was co-operative, admitting to being on TikTok and making the homemade balaclava.

The garda also accepted that McGreevy referred to his use of cannabis and his mental health issues during interview and expressed remorse and shame.

A letter from McGreevy, a medical report and other documents were handed to the court.

Mr Dwyer noted the medical report outlined his client’s history of drug use including cannabis and benzodiazepines.

His client managed to become drug-free but relapsed following the death of his young daughter. He has another child.

The report notes that McGreevy made the videos to express frustration and was using the injured parties to represent the systems he was frustrated with, but he has no problem with either of them.