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Christine Sharkey
This is the retired civil servant who harassed a woman by questioning who her father was by leaving copies of her birth certificate all over town!
Christine Sharkey, who’s 65 and from Ardmore Drive Omagh, pleaded guilty to a bizarre case of harassment this week.
She had left copies of the dismayed girl’s birth certificate across the Co. Tyrone town including at a Catholic Church and a café.
A judge said that her bizarre actions had made the woman’s life, “an absolute misery” before warning her she viewed the case so seriously she was considering sending her to jail when she comes before the court for sentencing at a later date.
At the town’s magistrates court the wound-up grandmother admitted approaching another woman at work in a shop in mid-afternoon, and saying in front of others: “Did you know that [a named man] is your father?”
Sharkey then shouted that the woman’s mother had had an affair with Sharkey’s ex-husband.
The prosecution lawyer said that Sharkey was also pleading guilty to harassing the woman’s mother. This harassment occurred over a four-year period.
Sharkey had left copies of the woman’s birth certificate at various locations round the town, including a Catholic Church and a café.
A defence lawyer told the Court that Sharkey was a mother of four, “with a clear record and a good character. She wishes to apologise to the injured parties.”
Sharkey had worked as a Civil Servant for 32 years, “with an unblemished record.”
Judge Bernie Kelly told the Court Sharkey had made the woman’s life an “absolute misery.”
She had read psychiatric and probation reports, and did not believe Sharkey had accepted her “full culpability.” This was despite pleading guilty.
This is someone who has taken absolutely no responsibility for her own actions,” Judge Kelly said.
She pointed out that Sharkey had been involved in divorce proceedings with her husband since 2006.
The Judge said she was concerned at an update to a pre-sentence report that expressed concerns Sharkey could act “impulsively” when dealing with life’s stressors.
Judge Kelly instructed Sharkey to finalise her divorce by the next court hearing, as the proceedings were causing her stress.
She also told Sharkey to restart “a relationship with your children and build a relationship with your grandchild.”
The judge said: “If a police officer has cause even to speak to you between now and the seventh of October, that will hand in the balance,” Judge Kelly said. “In the end of the day, if I have to send you to prison, I will.”
steven.moore@sundayworld.com