In a special three-part series spotlighting violence against women, Niamh Devereux speaks to victims and experts. In the first chapter, we examine stalking
When Sligo woman Eve McDowell became the target of stalking in 2019, she thought she was imagining it. “People throw the word around, like, ‘Oh, I’m stalking them on Instagram’. I never thought it would happen to me in such a serious way. It was one of those things that seemed so far away from my life.”
Then a first-year student at University of Galway, a man she had been briefly introduced to, Igor Lewandowski, became dangerously fixated upon her. At first, he began to turn up where she worked, and then he would follow her at all times of the day; he would hide in bushes, linger outside her student accommodation, and he even shaved his head, beard and eyebrows to disguise himself.
This steady escalation culminated in him breaking into her house, where he attacked her housemate with a clawhammer. Before this point, Eve had reported the stalking to the Gardaí – after spotting the man outside her bedroom window with his newly-shaved head and face – and was stunned to learn that there wasn’t any specific legislation in Ireland to protect her or anyone experiencing stalking. He was later convicted for harassment and aggravated burglary.
One year after Eve’s ordeal began, in Youghal, Co Cork, Una Ring suffered months of stalking and intimidation at the hands of her former work colleague, James Steele. After rejecting his advances, she received a barrage of texts, which grew into a campaign of harassment: graffiti on her car and home, sexually threatening notes with condoms attached. One final note said he would rape her and her daughter if she didn’t consent to have sex with him; as a result of this threat, Gardaí intercepted Steele in the middle of the night as he approached Una’s driveway armed with rope, a crowbar, duct tape and a prosthetic penis. He was later convicted for a series of offences, including attempted burglary with an intent to commit rape.
Connected by trauma
When Eve heard of Una’s nightmarish experience on Claire Byrne Live in 2021, she knew she had to speak with her.
“When I was going through everything, I thought I was the only person in Ireland who wasn’t a celebrity that was dealing with this,” Eve tells me. “You just didn’t see my kind of experience spotlighted in the media at all.”
A journalist passed Eve’s contact details on to Una, and the first time the two women spoke, the phone call lasted for hours. “The main thing that came from that conversation was, why is there no law on stalking in this country? Why isn’t there more information out there for people going through this? We started to write down everything we wish we’d known. We thought if we can help one person, then what we went through would have been worth it in some way.”
Channelling their pain into activism, Eve and Una launched an online support service and championed the urgent need for stalking-specific legislation to come into effect. Prompted by their lobbying, the Sexual Violence Centre Cork (SVCC) also began to campaign for legal reform. In partnership with SVCC, University College Cork’s Dr Catherine O’Sullivan and Dr Ciara Staunton carried out a landmark piece of research: the first Irish study of those who have been stalked and/or harassed. They expected around 40 people to respond to their survey; they got over 1,000.
“The results shattered any illusion that this is an unusual scenario or that it doesn’t happen very often,” Dr Staunton noted. “Our research highlighted that this is in fact a common occurrence.”
A key finding of the 2023 report was that although a “considerable” number of perpetrators were strangers, the majority of stalkers were known to their victims – often a partner, ex-partner, acquaintance, friend or work colleague. It also extensively highlighted the hidden psychological, social and financial impact on victims of stalking.
“The obvious symptom people may be familiar with is the notion of fear,” Dr Staunton explains. “But what our research showed was a whole range of both physical and psychological consequences, ranging from anxiety, depression, increased distrust of people, sleep disturbances, exhaustion, paranoia, panic attacks and agoraphobia.
“Some of these are diagnosable conditions. It’s very clear when you talk to women like Eve or Una that the level of fear you feel never goes away and, for many, that leads to post-traumatic stress disorder. A total of 265 people mentioned suicidal thoughts – impulsive, intrusive ones that put them at genuine risk of suicide attempts.”
Dr Staunton continues: “In terms of how being a victim of stalking affects your day-to-day life, the obvious thing is that you change your route home. When this kind of thing becomes part of a daily routine – constantly altering your movements, withdrawing from social media, leaving your job – it creates a pattern of social isolation. That isolation, in turn, increases the risk of anxiety and depression. People change phones, move homes. The stress of that alone is massive, but being forced into it adds another traumatic layer.
“There are also huge costs involved in dealing with this – not only if victims choose to go down a legal route, but with counselling, GP visits, installing surveillance systems. When you piece everything together, you really start to see how this has an impact in all areas of the victim’s life. There is no escape from it, and that constant fight-or-flight mode takes a toll on your body and mind. The fear that the stalker will show up again never really leaves.”
Change needed
Months after the report was unveiled, stalking became a standalone criminal offence in Ireland with the introduction of the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2023. Before this, the crime was prosecuted under general harassment laws, which often failed to reflect the obsessive, sustained and escalating nature of stalking. A tireless, grassroots campaign brought about legal reform on something that for too long was causing so much suffering in the shadows. While this marked a major milestone in Ireland, much remains to be done.
“Unfortunately, when the legislation landed, it wasn’t accompanied by an awareness campaign for the public,” says Dola Twomey, who leads a project for SVCC called Stalking in Ireland (stalkinginireland.ie). “Nor, were the various agencies who needed to handle the new legislation prepared for it. Everybody was learning on the ground, and what it has meant is that victims have had variable experiences around the country.”
For example, Eve says she recently accompanied a loved one to a Garda station to report a stalking case and was told there was nothing the Gardaí could do. “I stepped in and explained the new law and civil protection orders; he said she needed to apply for these in a civil court and I told him, no, he needed to make the application. He was so apologetic – he genuinely wanted to help but hadn’t been given the information and knowledge. I just can’t understand why Gardaí haven’t received standardised training on this yet.”
This is also echoed by Dr O’Sullivan, a lecturer in Criminal Law and Criminology in UCC: “Our research found that some people who reported stalking behaviours to the Gardaí under the old harassment offence were incorrectly informed that the Gardaí couldn’t get involved unless, for example, the accused used physical violence. However, that was not true then and it’s not true now.
“Research from other countries tells us that police misunderstanding the nature of the offence persists, even when new stalking offences are introduced. So, we need to put in place training for Gardaí to ensure that they recognise stalking behaviour when it is reported to them, appreciate its seriousness and connect it to the relevant offence.”
Dr O’Sullivan adds that it seems as though the introduction of the new stalking offence and the publicity around it has resulted in more victims seeking protection and justice.
“At a recent event that I spoke at, Detective Chief Superintendent Colm Noonan presented some preliminary data on the number of charges for stalking and harassment in 2023 and 2024. This is not currently publicly available, but what was most interesting to me was not that there were stalking charges in 2024 (the stalking offence only commenced in November ’23) but that there was a dramatic increase in the number of harassment charges between 2023 and 2024.
“This is an indirect indication of the success of the stalking offence, as it suggests that more people were able to identify the behaviour they were experiencing as criminal, and were therefore more confident about reporting it. Whether the charge pursued is harassment or stalking, that is a win for the victim because their belief that the behaviour they were being subjected to was wrong has been affirmed by the Gardaí. This is important because stalking and harassing behaviours are often minimised by others.”
She adds that more funding is needed to provide specialist training to counsellors and to provide specialist services to victims of stalking; as more victims feel empowered to report their experiences and as awareness about the crime grows, there will be greater demands for this. I’m told there is currently only one centre offering specific support to victims of stalking, that is Stalking in Ireland.
Breaking barriers
There have been so many mixed messages when it comes to what stalking is – you only have to look at popular shows like Netflix’s You. Dr Staunton says it’s imperative to break down misconceptions to the public, in particular “the idea that someone is obsessed with you, because they’re ‘mad’ about you”.
She says: “It always goes back to four principals: it’s fixated, it’s obsessive, it’s unwanted and it’s repeated. It’s important for people not to be in doubt in any way of the seriousness of this behaviour, and the serious impact it has on the person who is at the receiving end of it.”
Dola adds that it’s also vital to spread more awareness on the “surveillance culture” that co-exists with the digital age and allows for cyber-stalking; from AirTags hidden in personal belongings to checking people’s exact locations on Snapchat.
“As a country and a society, we’re not really up to speed with how open our doors and windows are with this kind of technology. We may not even realise that by opening an app, we’re automatically turning our location on. We need to talk about these things more.”
For Eve, who now works as communications and engagement officer with Active Consent, it’s about getting back to the basics.
“I think before we start addressing issue by issue, we need to go back to a place of common decency and respect for human beings,” Eve says. “We keep saying we’re having these watershed moments – and in one way we are seeing an improvement in services, but in another, things seem to be going backwards. We need to share the importance of basic empathy and boundaries, particularly with young boys and men. But, of course, this can also happen to men, and I think [the TV show] Baby Reindeer showed one side of that.”
She adds that, while her experience will always stay with her, the solidarity of other survivors has been a great source of healing.
“Every time I see a new case come forward, or a documentary, or even just someone speaking out about stalking … I don’t know how to describe the feeling. Before it had been so lacking in conversation, and there’s just the sense that, finally, it’s being talked about.” ICM
Gardaí advise to make a report with them if you are experiencing stalking. If you find yourself in immediate danger and are frightened for your safety or in an emergency always call 999/112. They suggest to reach out to Women’s Aid or Safe Ireland for expert guidance.
When asked about standardised training, Gardaí say as part of their training, trainee Gardaí receive instruction on stalking and related civil orders, including a dedicated lecture.
For those experiencing stalking who may be daunted by navigating the legal system; Dr O’Sullivan shares this advice:
First, familiarise yourself with the legal system. The Victim Information booklet on garda.ie goes through each stage of the process in accessible language.
Second, do not be discouraged if your initial contact with a member of An Garda Síochána is not positive. In our report we found that it can be a bit of a lottery, with some respondents praising the excellence of the Garda they first reported the crime to, while others disclosed that their experiences were downplayed, particularly if they had been in a relationship with the person who stalked them, or that the initial Garda engaged in victim-blaming. Remember that you have rights. If you are not being treated with respect, then insist that you are put in touch with the nearest Protective Services Unit. The Gardaí in this unit are specially trained to deal with offences like stalking.
Third, engage with support services. You will need them. Also, ask your loved ones to engage with these services as they may need to information about how to best support you.
