A 34-year-old woman has been given a one-year suspended sentence for posting fake sex ads on the internet in the names of people she had worked with.
Aishling Madden from Monastery Drive in Clondalkin was found guilty by a jury of four counts of criminal defamation and two counts of publishing grossly offensive material.
The ads were posted on the Gumtree website and related to two people Ms Madden hardly knew.
The woman and man both received emails and calls as a result of the ads.
After consulting with her lawyers, Ms Madden's Senior Counsel Sean Gillane said Ms Madden accepted the jury's verdict and wanted to indicate she was sorry for what happened.
He said she indicated that nothing of this nature would ever happen again.
Mr Gillane told the court that Ms Madden was very fragile and had spent a number of years battling with mental illness.
She came from a hard working and decent family who were doing their best for her and played 'a very serious role' in doing what was required to help her.
The judge was given a copy of a medical report into Ms Madden which was not read out.
Judge Patrick MacCartan said he was very relieved to hear that she accepted the jury verdict and that she had expressed regret to the two innocent people who had been very meanly targeted and offended for little or no reason.
He imposed a one-year sentence but suspended it for three years on condition she abide by the directions and regimes suggested through her doctor and health team in Clondalkin.
Ms Madden gave an undertaking that she would do so and thanked the judge.
The court had heard that Madden was working as a temporary receptionist for the consulting company Accenture in May 2006.
She came across the CV of another receptionist on a computer and emailed it to herself to use as a template.
A month later it appeared on the Gumtree website, as part of an ad offering sexual services.
A similar ad containing the name and phone number of a man who worked with the recruitment agency Office Angels also appeared on the website.
The victims of what Madden described as a 'practical joke', received phone calls and emails as a result of the ads.
Madden told gardaí she did not post the material on the internet.
She said other people had access to her computer. But, she said, she had forgotten their names.
A garda source said afterwards that they are constantly carrying out surveillance of online communities and social networking sites to track down similar offences.
