Director made abusive calls, court is told

Andrew Phelan

A BUSINESSMAN has been accused of making menacing phone calls to Government department staff, allegedly accusing them of corruption in a tirade of obscene insults.

John Crowe (63) repeatedly called the OPW and hurled verbal abuse at civil servants, saying they were corrupt and "in receipt of brown envelopes", it is alleged.

A court heard he told gardai he had been trying to contact his local TD to talk about the procurement system for Government-contracted work and had been previously unable to secure a meeting with Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

Crowe, a director, of Fortfield Drive, Terenure, is denying the charges against him.

He had his case adjourned at Dublin District Court.

He is charged with sending a message of a grossly offensive and menacing character, as well as persistently making telephone calls without reasonable cause for the purpose of causing inconvenience and needless anxiety.

The offences, under the Post Office Act, are alleged to have happened at the Office of Public Works, Hatch Street on June 23, 2011.

Procurement manager Aidan Murphy told the court he had been away from his desk when his colleague Michael Dunne took a number of calls.

Caller

Another call came through matching the number that had been left and when he answered it, the caller gave the name of Mr Crowe.

When asked the nature of his query, the caller " was abusive from the very start of the conversation".

"He started asking where my colleague was, and being very abusive about my colleague," Mr Murphy said. "He said we were scumbags, we were corrupt, we were in receipt of brown envelopes".

aphelan@herald.ie