18 May 2023 , 13:41
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A woman had a "malicious, vindictive campaign" of lies claiming rape and sexual assault against solicitors, social workers and a senior policeman, a court in Ireland heard.
Sonya Egan, 43, of County Cork, was not present at Cork Circuit Criminal Court for her sentencing over a “dizzying number of allegations” that were made up.
She is on hunger strike in Limerick prison where she is serving a two year sentence for harassment of a man and a woman, reported the Irish Mirror.
Judge Catherine Staines said that the “malicious, vindictive campaign” of unfounded allegations made by Ms Egan had caused untold damage to her victims.
Victim impact statements were handed in to the court by a number of the persons impacted by the lies perpetrated by Ms Egan.
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Egan was guilty of a "malicious, vindictive campaign" of lies (Provision Photography <[email protected]>)Judge Staines said that one man informed her that the allegations made against him by Ms Egan had “ruined his reputation and ended his career.”
She said that the man had dedicated his life to child protection only to be accused by Ms Egan of being involved in a paedophile ring.
Judge Staines said Egan had destroyed the name of the another man on social media accusing him of sexual abuse.
She said that the victim impact statements submitted to her had made for “harrowing reading” and that it was hard to imagine the extent of the “devastation caused to professional people.”
“One victim was accused of rape and sexual abuse. A letter of complaint was sent to his employers, to An Garda Siochana and the Minister for Health.
While formal investigations were taking place he had to stand aside. His reputation was ruined.”
She offered her sympathy to the impacted parties and expressed the hope that the admission of Ms Egan that her allegations were completely false would serve as some form of solace to them.
The court was told that Ms Egan often became ‘fixated’ with people who crossed her path and then subsequently accused them of heinous crimes such as rape and sexual assault. She also falsely accused a politician of physical assault.
Judge Staines heard Egan, who is a qualified social worker, had a strategy of making false reports and statements against people after complaints of harassment were made about her by certain individuals known to her.
Ms Egan has retracted all the false allegations she made against six men and three women in Cork city over a five year period.
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Ms Egan pleaded guilty to eight counts of making false statements and six counts of making false reports against the injured parties between 2016 and 2020. The false statements were made by Egan at Garda stations in Dublin and Cork.
The court heard that Ms Egan had a history of telling “tall tales” dating back to her teenage years with her “damaging” allegations against “people who crossed her path” becoming ever more serious in recent years.
Dt Sgt James Buckley said that Ms Egan was in care for a few years when she was a teenager and had left home at the age of 14.
One of her allegations was made against a social worker whom she bombarded with emails and she claimed she was his half sister. The man made a complaint to police against her.
In a statement made to gardai in July, 2016, Ms Egan said that the man had “pimped her out for human trafficking” in the late 1990’s.
Ms Egan also made false accusations of rape against the man dating back to when she was a teenager. She claimed that he also abused other girls.
Gardai never received other complaints about the man and teenage girls who were contacted said there were no truth to the allegations.
Dt Sgt Buckley said strategies employed by Ms Egan included sending letters containing false allegations against professional people to the Minister for Justice, GSOC, the Garda Commissioner and RTE. She also defamed individuals on social media.
Det Sgt Buckley said among her false allegations was that a man had raped and sexually assaulted her on 17 to 20 occasions between 1998 and 2000.
She also made a complaint to gardai in 2019 that two named men and a ”man with a tribal tattoo and black mark on his head” had brought her to a hotel room with one man raping her. She claimed that another man videoed it and that the tape was with her solicitor in Belfast. The tape was never produced and the allegations were completely false.
Dt Sgt Buckley said that Egan falsely accused a politician of engaging in a verbal altercation at her home and putting a foot in her door leading her to fall and twist her leg. She falsely alleged that she was assaulted by the politician.
She went to gardai on numerous occasions between 2016 and 2020 to make false accusations about professional people. Often times she brought typed statements with her which were over thirty pages long.
Dt Sgt Buckley told how Egan falsely alleged sexual misconduct against a senior garda and wasted countless garda hours. “She waged a horrific campaign against a diligent and professional garda member who she targeted with vile allegations,” he said.
Ms Egan claimed that the senior garda had threatened to kill her "or to see her go to prison by whatever he means".
Egan’s counsel Ronan Munro SC said that the guilty plea in the case had spared the victims the upset of giving evidence in what “would have been a complex and long trial.”
The court heard that the offences committed were all contrary to Section 12 of the Criminal Law Act 1979 and carried a maximum penalty of five years.
Mr Munro said that he had been instructed by Ms Egan to apologise for her actions. He said that he was entering a ‘formal retraction” on behalf of his client who accepted that there was “no factual basis to her allegations.”
He said that that client had a history of telling “tall stories” dating back over 20 years. He submitted a psychological report on Ms Egan where she was described as being a compulsive liar. She was given a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder.
Mr Munro said that his client had a huge fear of abandonment and a fragile sense of self. He added that her appallingly dysfunctional and destructive behaviour had led her to “lose her liberty.”
“She has hit rock bottom. She needs court mandated psychotherapy (upon her release from prison)," he said.
Judge Staines jailed Ms Egan for six years suspending the last two years of the sentence on condition that Ms Egan attend psychotherapy upon her release from prison. She was also ordered not to have any contact with the affected parties in the case following her release from custody.