Wicklow businessman avoids jail after ‘vile’ campaign of online harassment towards golf manager

By Darragh McCann, The Wicklow People

A Wicklow businessman who subjected a golf club manager to what a judge described as a “vile” campaign of online harassment over several years has avoided a custodial sentence.

Niall Barry (73), with an address at Coolnavee, Hillside, Greystones, appeared at a sitting of Wicklow Circuit Criminal Court for sentencing, after pleading guilty to one count of sending harmful communications contrary to Section 4 of the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020.

The legislation is commonly known as Coco’s Law.

Counsel for the prosecution, James Kelly, said that the victim, Marcus Doyle, was a golf manager at Druids Glen Golf Club when the accused got into conflict with the club, accusing them of “not complying with rules from the Golf Union of Ireland”.

The GUI did not uphold his complaint.

Druids Glen proceeded to remove the defendant from its membership, prompting Mr Barry to embark on a campaign of sending messages to Mr Doyle via Twitter, email and other social media platforms.

The court heard that Mr Barry contacted nearly every golf club in the country in his correspondence concerning the injured party.

In this correspondence, Mr Barry stated that “Druids Glen threw me out, Mr Doyle showed a lack of integrity”, adding that he felt he had been wronged by his ex-solicitors, “due to the old boys’ club”.

“I’m being abused by the system they use to protect each other,” he stated.

Mr Barry used social media posts to denigrate Mr Doyle to his potential employers, costing Mr Doyle career opportunities after those prospective employers were contacted by Mr Barry.

Garda Derek Kelly of Newtownmountkennedy testified that the harassment occurred between 2019 and 2025, with Mr Barry referring to the complainant as “the Weasel Doyle” or “the weasel” in a large number of his tweets. He also accused the victim of being a “liar and untrustworthy”.

It was noted that the tweets were viewed between 800 and 1,000 times. Mr Kelly said that Mr Barry also tweeted that “the weasel will be terrible for Druids Glen, he (Mr Doyle) loves himself”.

In his victim impact statement, Mr Doyle said he had been subjected to a campaign of harassment by Mr Barry for almost eight years.

He said the communications were “vile” and defamatory and were circulated to golf clubs across the country, despite him having had no involvement in the decision to terminate Mr Barry’s membership at Druids Glen.

Mr Doyle told the court that the harassment had a devastating impact on his mental health, leaving him feeling helpless and requiring medication to manage anxiety.

Mr Doyle stated that the harassment had taken a significant toll on his personal relationships and contributed to the breakdown of his relationship with his partner.

The former golf manager further told the court that when his father died in 2025, too much of his time was spent dealing with matters relating to Mr Barry instead of spending time with his family.

Mr Doyle said he feared for his safety and described the conduct as “not a lapse of judgment” but rather “a campaign of cruelty”.

Concluding his statement, he thanked the court for holding Mr Barry accountable and said that, for the first time in years, he felt free to move on with his life.

During cross-examination, Mr Bowman said that his client has felt wronged by Druids Glen and that he viewed Mr Doyle as “collateral damage”.

The victim, Mr Marcus Doyle. © Darragh McCann

In mitigation, the court was told that Mr Barry is a successful businessman and that he has grown-up children.

However, Mr Bowman said that Mr Barry is now subject to a fall from grace in terms of his standing in the community.

“His standing in the community was not taken away, it was thrown away,” said Judge Sinéad Ní Chúlacháin.

Mr Doyle accepted €25,000 from the accused as a token of remorse, with Mr Barry also writing a letter of apology.

In her judgment, Judge Ní Chúlacháin remarked that Mr Barry had engaged in a deliberate campaign of intimidation and harassment against Mr Doyle over a prolonged period.

“The conduct was intended, it wasn’t accidental,” said Judge Ní Chúlacháin, adding that Mr Doyle was not “collateral damage” but the specific target of the campaign.

The judge found that the offence fell within the highest range of seriousness for this type of offending and set a headline sentence of 24 months imprisonment.

However, taking into account Mr Barry’s guilty plea, remorse, apology and payment of €25,000 to Mr Doyle, she reduced the sentence to 18 months and suspended it in its entirety for five years.

Conditions of the suspension include that Mr Barry have no contact with Mr Doyle for 10 years, delete all social media posts concerning him and enter into a bond of €100.

“I can’t imagine a more vile campaign than this,” said Judge Ní Chúlacháin.