Campaign of harassment against ex-partner

By Declan Brennan

A woman who created fake online dating profiles and Instagram accounts in her ex-partner’s name in a campaign of harassment has been jailed for two years and three months.

Over the course of four months, Portuguese dentist Andreia Funicio (46) subjected her ex-partner to a “sustained campaign of terror” designed to destroy her, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard.

As a result of the fake profiles, dozens of men completely unknown to the victim contacted her by WhatsApp and came calling to her house at all hours of the day and night in the anticipation of a sexual encounter.

The harassment was triggered by the breakup of a relationship.

The victim told the court that she felt she was in the centre of “a fully-fledged narcissistic smear campaign” which left her struggling with suicidal thoughts.

Funicio of Costa Caparica, Portugal, pleaded guilty to harassment on dates between December 2, 2022, and March 3, 2023.

Imposing sentence yesterday Judge Martin Nolan said the pattern of harassment was thought out, devious and calculated to inflict damage on the injured party.

He said the harassment was “pretty intense” and had a serious traumatic effect on the victim.

He set a headline sentence of four and a half years, which he reduced to two years and three months in light of the “very good mitigation”. 

This includes the plea of guilty, the lack of any other criminal convictions and Funicio’s role as a carer for her elderly mother.

He said he thought the defendant was unlikely to reoffend.

He ordered her to have no further contact with the victim for 20 years.

The maximum penalty for the offence is seven years’ imprisonment.

Detective Garda Ciaran Flanagan told Fiona McGowan BL, prosecuting, that Funicio and the injured party met on a dating app in May 2022.

Funicio worked full-time as a dentist in Portugal, but worked some weekends in Ireland.

 The two met and, after a few weeks, began an intimate relationship which the court heard quickly became “intense”.

The victim told the court that “one or two red flags became many” and the relationship became toxic.

In October, she told Funicio she was going on a long family holiday to Australia over Christmas.

After a final trip to Portugal that went badly, the victim ended the relationship, telling the court she felt terror about what Funicio might do as a result.

In December 2022, she began getting missed calls from unknown numbers, and soon after, unknown men began calling at her front door.

The victim had an online doorbell system and would get alerts and video footage on the phone when people came to the door.

The victim spoke to one of the callers and figured out that somebody had set up a fake dating profile on Hinge in her name.

Ms McGowan told the court that the defendant was behind these accounts and was using them to invite men to the victim’s home on the expectation of having a sexual encounter.

Over the weeks that followed, the victim continued to receive unsolicited messages from strangers on WhatsApp, with some men sending her lewd photos.

Men were also calling at all hours of the day and night to her home.

Some callers got the house number wrong and arrived at her neighbours’ door, saying they were looking for the complainant and giving her name.

The victim was very concerned for her safety and had the locks to her front door changed.

On December 22, the victim was “at her wits’ end” when she learned Funicio had contacted her ex-partner.

The victim travelled to Australia as planned, but on Christmas Day, she got a message from a friend telling her that a fake Instagram account had been set up in her name.

In total, Funicio set up eight fake Instagram profiles, and she put up a topless video of the victim, which she had surreptitiously recorded during a video call when they were dating.

She also posted a photo of a sex toy on the profiles.

She then sent invitations from the profiles to family, friends, sporting acquaintances and work colleagues of the victim, as well as to her local cafe.

She also sent a topless photo of the victim and a pornographic image to the victim’s mother and aunt. 

The victim’s mother was with her on the Australian holiday and was aware her daughter was really suffering as a result of what was going on.

Due to the stress she was under, the victim began getting medical attention while in Australia and extended her stay there.

She told the court that she felt suicidal and was afraid to return to Dublin because she didn’t know what Funicio would do next.

On January 14, a friend told the victim that somebody had spray-painted her name and the words “gay liar” on the wall of her parents’ garage, and on February 24, graffiti with her name and the words “Trans G Liar” appeared on a footpath near the home.

She was due to spend three weeks in Australia, but she changed her plans.

The callers to her home had stopped for the three weeks of the time she was scheduled to be in Australia, but resumed in mid-January when another fake dating profile was set up, this time on Tinder.

Men began appearing again at her door and at her neighbours’ doors.

When the victim did return to Dublin in early February, there was a letter addressed to her with cut-out pornographic images which had been sent to the victim’s mother.

 In March, she received a letter with topless images of her from the fake Instagram account.

 Gardai arrested Funicio in February.

She admitted to contacting the victim’s ex-partner in order to upset the victim, but denied harassing her in other ways.

 Gardai seized her phone and linked it to the fake Hinge and Tinder profiles and to the Instagram profiles.

 Dt Gda Flanagan agreed with Diana Stuart SC, defending, that Funicio co-operated fully with the investigation.

He accepted a submission that Funicio’s actions were unsophisticated and fairly opportunistic and that she “any chance she got to cause the victim difficulty, she took”.

She said there were never any threats of violence and that all the offending took place from “the end of a phone”.

Ms Stuart told the court that her client has a history of significant mental health difficulties.

She said that Funicio is the legal guardian of her elderly mother in Portugal.

She said her client is extremely remorseful and regretful and has written a letter of apology to the court.

She said Funicio never intended to cause any physical harm to the victim but did want to make her life difficult.

She said Funicio was unable to handle the end of the relationship and her actions were born out of fear, desperation and a fractured state of mind.

Ms Stuart asked the court to consider a fully suspended sentence and said her client has no intention of returning to Ireland.

In her victim impact statement, read by Ms McGowan, the victim told the court that during the period of the harassment, she felt hopeless and lonely and at the mercy of the defendant.

She said she soon realised that she was a victim of a fully-fledged narcissistic smear campaign.

She said her home became a realm of terror, and her mental health deteriorated.

She said Funicio’s actions were designed to damage her reputation and were extremely damaging.

She said at one stage death seemed like the only option available to her to make the harassment stop, and she also thought about selling her Dublin home and changing her name.

She said her family’s holiday to Australia became an unforgettable trip for all the wrong reasons.

Instead of spending “precious moments” with her niece and nephews, who are residents in Australia, she spent much of the holiday watching her home on the doorbell camera.

She said the harassment put a massive strain on her entire family, and her parents suffered with their health.

She said that even after the harassment ceased in March 2023, she remains hyper-vigilant to this day.

“To this very day, I do not feel safe. I have not been able to move on. The three years I have lost – nothing will ever give that back to me.

She said the ordeal has had a devastating impact on her personal relationships, and she struggles to trust others now.

She said she rarely ventures far from home, and her career has suffered as a result of the harassment.

“This experience has changed my life in ways I never imagined. I had to rebuild myself,” she said.

She also told the court that the many victims of Funicio’s actions included her parents, her aunt, and even the men whom Funicio “catfished” and were duped into calling her home.

“The abuse I endured was premeditated. It was a sustained campaign of terror designed to destroy me. It stripped me of my sense of safety,” she said.

She said she found it impossible to ever accept any apology from the victim, and she says her plea of guilty was another “act of manipulation” on her part.

“I carry the impact of this every day,” she stated, adding that she continues to require therapy.