Man called ex-partner 523 times from Castlerea Prison

A man who harassed his former partner by making over 500 phone calls from Castlerea Prison has been sentenced to 20 months’ imprisonment.

Aretas Sinkas of 11 Grattan Close, Claremorris, appeared before last week’s sitting of Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court, where he was sentenced after pleading guilty to harassing his former partner while he was in prison.

The court heard that the injured party received calls from Mr Sinkas, a Lithuanian national, while he was on remand in prison in relation to offences also connected to the injured party.

CALL LIST

GARDA Karol Murray explained that the first phone call occurred in December 2022, when the injured party received a call from the prison during which she was asked to consent to allowing her name to be added to a call list for the defendant. He said she refused the request but continued to receive calls from him in the prison. It later emerged that her mobile phone number was on the call list under another name.

Garda Murray said he downloaded Mr Sinkas’s call record from February 16, 2023, to May 17, 2023, and during this period, he matched a total of 523 phone calls made by the defendant to the injured party. He explained that although she was not answering the calls, he would call her ten times on some days.

Judge Eoin Garavan was also informed that Mr Sinkas sent six letters to the injured party, which were written in Russian. Garda Murray said the letters were poorly written and described them as rambling and incoherent, where he goes from insulting her and blaming her for his incarceration to telling her he loves her and they should be together and die together. Garda Murray said these letters made the injured party afraid.

On April 2, 2023, the injured party was working with the defendant’s sister, who received a phone call from Mr Sinkas. The phone was handed to the injured party, who was told by Mr Sinkas that he would beat her up the day he got out of prison. Garda Murray said the phone calls from prison are recorded and he downloaded the conversation and translated it.

The court heard that the defendant and the injured party had a child together, but Mr Sinkas was remanded in custody when the child was just five months old. He was sentenced to 18 months’ jail in March 2023 for the false imprisonment of the injured party. The sentence expired on November 2, and he has been on remand for the last nine months in relation to these charges.

VIOLENT ABUSE

IN A victim-impact statement, the injured party said she had been subjected to violence while pregnant in a foreign country and felt ashamed to be a victim. She said she contacted the Gardaí in the last month of her pregnancy, as she could not endure anymore of the abuse, which still haunts her in her dreams.

She explained that she has had to leave Ireland and move to another country for the safety of herself and her children. She said the feeling of fear still does not leave her.

Mr Desmond Dockery, senior counsel for Mr Sinkas, said that a psychological report shows that what appears to be driving his client’s conduct was frustration and anger at lack of access to his young child. The child was born in March 2022. Mr Sinkas has been in custody since September 2022 and has not had any access since.

Mr Dockery said Mr Sinkas came to Ireland in 2006 and worked in Claremorris in a mushroom factory until he was remanded in prison. He said Mr Sinkas was not a ‘career criminal’, but unable to manage his frustration and annoyance. Mr Sinkas denies his intention was to intimidate his ex-partner.

Judge Garavan said that this was a serious matter, as the offence occurred while he was in custody awaiting sentencing for false imprisonment of the same individual. This, he said, was desperately aggravating and the effect on the victim meant that she felt she had to leave the country, as it was not a safe place for her.

Judge Garavan noted that Mr Sinkas clearly has a temper and feels aggrieved by the judicial system and the lack of access to his child.

He sentenced Mr Sinkis to 26 months’ imprisonment which was backdated to November 2, 2023, but suspended the final six months of the sentence for a two-year period.