Mother of Diego Gilsenan makes formal complaint to gardaí over anti-vax conspiracy theorist Gemma O’Doherty

Diego Gilsenan (18), from Cavan, died in August 2021.

His mother, Edel Campbell, recently lodged High Court proceedings against Ms O’Doherty claiming her son’s image was wrongly used by the journalist, as the publisher of The Irish Light newspaper.

In an edition of the anti-vax freesheet published last year, a photograph of Mr Gilsenan (18) was among 42 photos of young people on the front page who the conspiracy theorist states “died suddenly”.

Inside the publication, Ms O’Doherty suggested the deaths of the teenagers and young adults whose photos she published were linked somehow to Covid vaccines.

The Sunday Independent understands that gardaí based in Kingscourt, Co Cavan, took a formal criminal complaint from Ms Campbell on June 12.

Gardaí are investigating the complaint by the bereaved mother, which accuses the former journalist of harassment.

In her High Court writ, Ms Campbell claims the ant-vax activist has been using the image of her son for “her own purposes and agenda,” and was “reluctantly” issuing court proceedings after “all pleas have been ignored”.

A statement issued by Mulholland Law, who are representing Ms Campbell, said: “These proceedings have been reluctantly brought by the plaintiff, however, given the continuing conduct of Ms O’Doherty as the publisher of The Irish Light newspaper our client felt she has no alternative.”

​The statement accuses Ms O’Doherty of trying to “sensationalise the unfortunate death of Diego Gilsenan with inflammatory rhetoric, unfounded conspiracies and the unauthorised and misappropriate use of our client’s son’s image is utterly shameful.

“It was hoped by our client that a compassionate approach may have been adopted by Ms O’Doherty and that she refrain from the exploitation of her son’s image and tragedy for her own purposes and agenda, however this did not materialise, and all pleas have been ignored.

“Given the absence of specific legislation at the moment from the Oireachtas dealing with grotesque publications, High Court proceedings have been issued. We believe our client’s rights pursuant to Bunreacht na hÉireann have been breached.”​

A friend of Ms Campbell, lobbyist and activist Kristofer Shekleton, set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for the bereaved mother’s “landmark” action against Ms O’Doherty. It has so far raised more than €21,000 following an outpouring of support from the general public.

In an interview with this newspaper last year, Ms Campbell spoke of her heartbreak after a family member told her how her son Diego’s photo had been published on the front page of The Irish Light and that his death was now part of an anti-vax message by Ms O’Doherty.

“She has used my son’s photo and all these other young people’s images without permission and tried to link their deaths to vaccines,” she said.

“It is disgusting. It has compounded our grief. I feel as though someone has put their hand inside my heart and pulled it out all over again.”

An attempt was made to contact Ms O’Doherty for comment.