The woman who survived a campaign of torture and terror by former garda Paul Moody says she cannot understand how some people continued to support him when they knew what was going on.
The survivor, 'Nicola', who does not wish to be publicly identified, this afternoon told RTÉ News that a number of men - who are not members of the gardaí - gave Moody support during the criminal process when he was charged and when he admitted what he had done.
She says that they know who they are and she would like them now to reflect on what they did and the consequences of their actions.
Paul Moody was caught because he made a complaint to the gardaí about one of Nicola's family members, and handed in his phone as part of the investigation. When the phone was examined, detectives from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation realised the crimes he was committing and approached Nicola.
"While trying to destroy my life, he actually destroyed his own"
"He tried to lie and come after a member of my family with false evidence," Nicola said.
She described the gardaí who investigated Moody as "amazing".
"If I could pick such a team, that's who I would have picked," she said. "They gave me back my faith in An Garda Síochána".
"He handed his own phone in and they came to me and said 'Nicola, we know what he's doing to you'."
"While trying to destroy my life, he actually destroyed his own," she said.
"No one deserves to get away with treating anyone like this," she said. "No other human being should treat another human being this way. It's cruel and beyond evil."
Nicola previously tried to report Moody to a senior officer in Irishtown Garda Station where he worked, but Moody succeeded in having a colleague divert her call to him.
She also said she does not know how or why the decision was made to allow Moody to only plead guilty to one of the 20 charges - that of coercive control.
The crime carries a maximum sentence of five years, but Nicola does not want to be seen to be critical of the judiciary, the prosecution or the gardaí.
She says she still didn't think that Moody would "do time", go to jail, "because he was a guard".
"Because he was a garda, he knew the law. He used it and twisted it in every way he could. He was so clever," she said.
"I never dreamed I would be involved in anything like this but I had no option"
She criticised the fact that when other State agencies became aware of the abuse they failed to act.
Nicola said she does not take any comfort or pleasure out of the fact that Moody has been sent to jail.
"I don't get any satisfaction from seeing anyone go to prison," she said, "if anything it makes me sad to be put in this position."
However, she said she had no choice because of the abuse.
"I never dreamed I would be involved in anything like this but I had no option," she said. "I find this process very hard, very difficult. If anything, it makes me sad and hurt to have to do this."
Nicola also insisted that it was important to her that she be recognised as a survivor; a survivor of Paul Moody and a survivor of cancer.
She also wants to encourage other victims of this crime to come forward.
Nicola says she is now physically and mentally exhausted and is due to receive further cancer treatment in the coming weeks.
"I now need time to concentrate on my health and my recovery," she said.
She has asked for space and privacy to recover.
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