{"id":369735,"date":"2026-03-05T20:21:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T20:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/369735\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T20:21:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T20:21:14","slug":"stalker-who-followed-influencer-from-street-to-hotel-room-spared-jail-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/369735\/","title":{"rendered":"Stalker who \u2018followed\u2019 influencer from street to hotel room spared jail \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A stalker has been spared jail after leaving a social media influencer fearing for her life when he followed her into her Dublin<\/a> hotel, leaving her wondering if she \u201cwould even still be here\u201d afterwards.<\/p>\n

Denis Morris (24) of Braemor Road in Churchtown, received a fully suspended six-month sentence on Thursday, having pleaded guilty earlier to stalking the 25-year-old woman after drinking 14 pints.<\/p>\n

Dublin District Court <\/a>heard he followed her from Harcourt Street into her hotel lift, while holding a belt and staring at her, then into the corridor near her room.<\/p>\n

The successful influencer who delivered a moving victim impact statement at an earlier stage was present at the sentencing hearing.<\/p>\n

Judge Treasa Kelly stressed that she had done \u201cnothing wrong\u201d and had acted entirely with her own safety in mind. The victim had recorded Morris, who followed her off the street, through the hotel, into a lift and to the corridor near her room at around 2am on March 21st last year. <\/p>\n

The judge noted the incident had a significant psychological impact on the victim.<\/p>\n

The social media personality cannot be named for legal reasons and did not wish to waive her anonymity, prosecutor Sharon Rossiter informed the court.<\/p>\n

Judge Kelly noted from the Probation Service assessment report that out-of-work Morris had done all that was asked of him. She described Morris as a chronic alcoholic who was \u201ca danger once he had drink on board\u201d.<\/p>\n

She recalled the CCTV evidence and noted from the pre-sentence report handed into court that the accused had gone to five probation meetings, and claimed to have no recollection before eventually claiming he wanted \u201cto chat women up\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, Judge Kelly remarked that, while he had taken responsibility, he had maintained that he did not remember the incident.<\/p>\n

She suspended the sentence on condition that he does not reoffend within 12 months, continues attending alcohol addiction treatment, and remains under Probation Service supervision for six months.<\/p>\n

Morris had brought \u20ac2,000 for the victim, who declined the compensation and asked that it instead be donated to a charity that supports victims of domestic and gender based violence.<\/p>\n

Earlier, Detective Garda Eamon Leen of Kevin Street Divisional Protective Service Unit told the court that CCTV showed the accused spotting the victim as she exited Copper Face Jacks club.<\/p>\n

She was staying in a hotel across the street.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe pointed her out and followed her into the hotel and into the lift,\u201d he said. \u201cAs she was in fear, she took out her phone to start recording.\u201d<\/p>\n

He explained that the accused overtook her in the corridor, but stopped as she entered her room, where her mother was waiting.<\/p>\n

Morris exited the building via a fire escape and returned to Harcourt Street.<\/p>\n

Morris, who had no previous convictions and was not known to garda\u00ed, was tracked via CCTV and a taxi app. <\/p>\n

He first told garda\u00ed that he had entered the hotel to get a drink and said he thought that his girlfriend might be there.<\/p>\n

Morris was charged under section 10 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.<\/p>\n

The victim had spoken about how she had told herself that 2025 was her year, but this incident had changed that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still blame myself,\u201d she said, explaining that she wondered if she should have worn a jacket or covered up more. \u201cI constantly have nightmares,\u201d she had said.<\/p>\n

She said that she used to love the freedom of travelling alone for work, but now she began turning down offers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has just taken over my life,\u201d she had told the court. \u201cWhat if my Mam wasn\u2019t there. Would I even still be here?\u201d she questioned. \u201cI remember standing in the lift,\u201d she said. \u201cI was prepared to be hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she had to put on a brave face for the public, but that it had changed her and her family\u2019s lives forever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A stalker has been spared jail after leaving a social media influencer fearing for her life when he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,171124,8301,18,13,14,6,19,17,171123,11,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":["post-369735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-copper-face-jacks","tag-dublin-district-court","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-iveagh-gardens","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116178431855250493","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}