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04 May 2024
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04 May 2024
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Saoirse McHugh and Luke 'Ming' Flanagan, with his daughter who is also named Saoirse, at the 2019 European Elections Count Centre in Castlebar. Pic: Michael McLaughlin
A former parliamentary assistant has admitted hacking the Twitter account of Midlands-North-West constituency MEP Luke 'Ming' Flanagan.
RTE News have today reported that Diarmuid Hayes, 34, from Dublin, was convicted in a Belgian court of posting a picture of then Green Party candidate, Achill native, Saoirse McHugh from Mr Flanagan's account in September 2020.
A Belgian public prosecutor has sought a one year prison term for Hayes.
Mr Flanagan claimed offensive comments about pictures of Ms Saoirse McHugh were posted from his Twitter account after it was hacked.
The Roscommon native claimed that a message was posted from the account by a third party against his will and knowledge and that it was extremely damaging. The message was subsequently deleted.
Ms McHugh, and Emma Sheering, currently an assistant of Mr Flanagan, were later named in court documents as victims in the case.
Mr Flanagan reported the incident, and after an investigation by European Parliament authorities the matter was handed over to Belgian police.
It is understood the case involves two alleged breaches of Belgian law. One is the fraudulent access of another person’s social media account, the second involves the changing of data on the account.
The case has been put back to March 25 for sentencing.
The public prosecutor has sought a one-year prison term, although he said he would not object if the term was suspended.
Counsel for Hayes, Charlotte Henderickx asked Judge Jacquemin to consider community service, which would not carry with it a criminal record.
Read a full report on the hearing on the RTE News website by clicking on the link above.
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