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The last thing I expected to feel after interviewing Una Ring this week was upbeat. Her story is the stuff of slasher movies – unwanted advances, unsolicited and rage-filled texts, cryptic messages painted on her windows, letters threatening to rape her and her daughter left under the windscreen wiper of her car. And then the perpetrator of this reign of terror being caught while walking towards her front door in the middle of the night, clutching a crowbar. He was later found to be in possession of a roll of duct tape, a length of rope and a sex toy. I was prepared for a sleepless night or two after talking to Una. But her stoicism, her refusal to dwell on what might have happened and her sincere belief that she had in fact been lucky with how her case was handled by the Gardaí and the courts – well, it was inspiring. ....
Una Ring barely gave her former colleague, James Steele, a second thought before the text messages started coming. It started innocuously enough. He asked for help organising a conference at his new firm. When he had her cornered alone in a room, he made a physical sexual advance, which was rebuffed. At first, he apologised via text. Then the texts grew increasingly ominous, culminating in a threat to call to her home. Later, her car and her home were vandalised, before sexually explicit and threatening letters were left on her car. When he was arrested, on her property at 3am on July 27 last year, he was armed with a crowbar, he was carrying a rope and duct tape and wearing surgical gloves. ....
A mother-of-two who was stalked by a former work colleague said she owes her life to gardai after he has caught on CCTV brandishing a crowbar outside her home after leaving a menacing letter threatening to rape her and her daughter. ....
A woman whose former work colleague harassed her, threatened her and tried to break into her home has spoken about her "absolutely terrifying" ordeal. ....