RTÉA former garda (Irish police officer) who impersonated a female colleague online and encouraged strangers to rape her and her daughters has been jailed for seven years.
Shane Flanagan admitted two counts of inciting two men to rape the woman, who had been a friend, on dates between November and December 2020.
Flanagan also admitted six counts of endangering the woman and her teenage daughters through his communications online and also pleaded guilty to possessing images of child sexual abuse material.
Imposing sentence at Dublin’s Central Criminal Court, Ms Justice Eileen Creedon sentenced Flanagan to eight years in prison and suspended the final year.
The court heard that Flanagan and the woman were both serving members of An Garda Síochána (the Irish police service) at the time.
39 year old Flanagan, with an address in County Clare, resigned from the force in March.
They were friends, but had never entered into a romantic or intimate relationship.
Flanagan set up a profile on an online website which allows people to interact with each other about sexual fetishes.
The profile used real photos and information relating to his female friend.
He also was said to have set up a fake Facebook account for the same purpose.
The judge said the conversations online in relation to the endangerment charges relating to the woman and her two children were extremely graphic and disturbing.
Posing as the woman, Flanagan discussed in graphic detail what could be done to her and to her daughters.
In some cases he sent men Google Street View images of her house and her regular running route.
The communications were discovered in December 2020, when one of the men who had been discussing the logistics of going to the woman’s house, contacted her real Facebook profile to make sure she was really consenting.
‘Calculated, predatory act of violence’
The court heard she was in significant shock when the garda investigation revealed Flanagan was the individual responsible.
When police searched Flanagan’s home and seized devices they found almost 700 images of the woman, as well as 219 images of her that had been digitally altered to show her gagged, bound and naked.
Ms Justice Creedon said Flanagan showed a “breath-taking disregard” for the safety of the woman and her daughters.
The judge said that Flanagan would have been more “alive” to these dangers with him being once a police officer.
She said that it was not just a betrayal of friendship, it was a “calculated, predatory act of violence”, which had left lifelong scars for the victim and her daughters.
