Gemma O’Doherty, firmly disputes allegations that she had harassed a woman who lost her son to suicide and has described any attempt to imprison her for supposedly breaching court rules as “scandalous and illegitimate.” Following her apprehension by the gardaí, Ms. O’Doherty was summoned to the High Court on Wednesday.
This week, Justice Conor Dignam has postponed an application that could potentially result in Ms. O’Doherty’s imprisonment over an alleged refusal to comply with an injunction obtained by Edel Campbell. Ms. O’Doherty was granted the postponement to secure legal counsel and accrue the necessary legal paperwork required. She was subsequently released from custody after her hearing.
The current injunction, which will stay in effect throughout the entirety of these hearings, restricts Ms. O’Doherty from harassing or intimidating Ms. Campbell, of Kingscourt, Co Cavan, as well as forbidding the disclosure of any confidential data regarding the plaintiff and her family.
Ms. Campbell sought this injunction as part of her case against Ms. O’Doherty for using a picture of her late child, Diego Gilsenan, in the Irish Light newspaper, which Ms. O’Doherty supervises. The court ordered Ms. O’Doherty to withdraw Mr. Gilsenan’s image from all media controlled by her, and to cease publishing any images of Ms. Campbell and her family on any form of media.
According to claims, Ms. O’Doherty ignored these orders and made public statements that violated the terms set by the court in a string of video posts last year. This led to the current contempt charges faced by Ms. O’Doherty.
Despite these charges, Ms. O’Doherty informed the judge that she has never harassed anyone and has never met Ms. Campbell. O’Doherty’s claims of defamation and reputational damage by Ms. Campbell in a radio interview aired by RTÉ were also highlighted. She strongly contests the validity of the injunction, which she decided against appealing, and openly stated her refusal to follow it. Ms. O’Doherty argued that these allegations against her are attempts to hinder her from her responsibilities as an inquisitive reporter focusing on unreported deaths.
Finally, Ms. O’Doherty told the judge, “if you decide to incarcerate me, you would be imprisoning me for my work as an inquisitive journalist. I wouldn’t want to be in your position.”
She accused the claimant of violating a statute that prohibits the financing of lawsuits by outside parties, often referred to as ‘champerty and maintenance’. She maintained that a funding drive intended for Ms Campbell’s legal costs, which raised over €24,000, some of which was contributed by unidentified sponsors, was a breach of this law. She informed the gardaí about this matter.
She admitted to sharing an image of Mr Gilsenan that was roughly the size of a postage stamp, but justified it as being part of an investigative feature about sudden young fatalities in Ireland.
Ms O’Doherty included a copy of Mr Gilsenan’s post-mortem report online, justifying it as a public record that the court has no authority to demand she delete.
Ms Campbell’s legal representative David Kennedy SC, accompanied by Paul Comiskey O’Keeffe BL, briefed by lawyer Ciaran Mulholland, voiced in court that his client merely wanted Ms O’Doherty to respect the injunction, yet she refused. Consequently, his client was forced to submit a motion accusing her of contempt.
Mr Kennedy stated that his client’s issue was not with the sharing of the autopsy outcome but with the commentary about his client that evidently constituted harassment.
He labelled all the accusations by Ms O’Doherty as baseless. He was taken aback by the revelation that a Garda investigation into the funding event had been initiated. Given the numerous court appearances regarding the issue, Mr Kennedy said they were virtually providing their legal services for free to Ms Campbell.
Ms Campbell is suing Ms O’Doherty over alleged unauthorised use of her late son’s picture, which was published following his death in 2021. She contends that Ms O’Doherty has improperly exploited the image in an article under her control, where there are purported links between unclear deaths and the Covid-19 vaccine.
An injunction was obtained by her, restraining Ms O’Doherty from any form of persecution towards the plaintiff, as well as the publication of personal and confidential details or images of the plaintiff or her deceased son. Moreover, Ms O’Doherty has been barred from instigating others to menace the complainant and was instructed to take down any images of the plaintiff or her deceased son from any media outlets she owns or runs.
There’s a further allegation by Ms Campbell which asserts that the repeated and unauthorised utilisation of her son’s images constitutes harassment and a violation of her constitutionally-protected rights. She claims that such actions have caused her significant emotional distress and harm. Ms O’Doherty, however, dismisses all claims, asserting she took the image down out of goodwill.