Dublin man threatened to kill woman he met on Instagram

A man previously jailed for assaulting a social media influencer made repeated threats to kill or cause serious harm to a woman he met on Instagram, a court has heard.

Craig O’Brien (30) sent messages threatening to “butcher” the woman and saying: “I swear to God, I’m gonna kill you.”

He also threatened “to blow her and her boyfriend’s head off”.

“I’ll pay some crackhead butcher and you won’t know where it came from,” he wrote in private messages sent to the woman’s Instagram account.

In 46 messages sent on three dates between July 27th, 2024 and September 1st, 2024, he called the woman a “dumb tramp”, a “stupid b***h” and a “dirty rat”.

In one message he threatened to carry out an “acid attack” on her face, saying “that’s not an empty threat”.

In other messages he said he would “stalk” the woman online until she made a “f**k up” and turned on her account location information.

Det Garda Anthony Cunningham told prosecuting barrister Lisa Dempsey that the woman took the threats seriously and felt unsafe.

O’Brien, of Comet Road, Ballyfermot, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to making a threat to kill or cause serious harm and harassment.

The offence of harassment comes with statutory restrictions preventing publication of any material likely to identify the victim.

O’Brien was previously sentenced to two years and three months, with the final nine months suspended for 18 months, for an “unprovoked and unwarranted attack” on social media influencer Charleen Murphy at the Grafton Capital Hotel in Dublin 2 on February 10th, 2023.

During his arrest for this offence, O’Brien told gardaí that “influencers were ganging up on him and harassing him, and they [influencers] deserved it”.

Defence barrister Miska Hanahoe told the court her client was in a drug-induced psychosis at the time and genuinely believed social media influencers were out to get him.

O’Brien has 12 previous convictions including two for assault.

In relation to the latest case, Cunningham told defence counsel Fionnuala O’Sullivan that O’Brien and the victim were not personally known to each other.

O’Sullivan said her client could not explain why he contacted the victim but that “alcohol was almost definitely a factor”. She said he does not specifically remember much of the offending and accepts he did it, and believes it was disgusting and unforgivable behaviour.

Counsel said O’Brien went into custody in March 2025 for these offences and has been making “huge efforts” to rehabilitate himself while on remand.

Judge Orla Crowe said this was a very serious case. She ordered a risk assessment from the Probation Service and adjourned the case to January 15th for finalisation.