Criminal, obviously.
Can you link any of these laws please? Especially for Ireland. I can't find anything for Ireland that would make this a criminal offence.
Again, I'm not defending it. I think it's an awful thing to do. But "why didn't they call the police?" is answered by "maybe they did and the police told them it's not a police matter".
[1]: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_stgb/englisch_st...
If it's criminal or not is not a matter of simple opinion, but of the laws in that jurisdiction. DanBC doesn't deserve the downvotes.