Co Armagh man, accused of sending an Instagram friend request to a woman he was banned from contacting, has case dismissed at Craigavon court
A Co Armagh man, accused of breaching a Restraining Order by sending a friend request to a woman he is banned from contacting, has had the charge dismissed.
Michael Gerard Austin, aged 42, from Market Street, Lurgan, appeared before Craigavon Magistrates Court.
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He faced a charge of breaching a Restraining Order on March 4, 2025 by sending ‘without reasonable excuse’ a friend request on Instagram to a woman he was prohibited from contacting under the Protection from Harassment (NI) Order 1997 – a charge he contested.
While the Press were viewing Craigavon Magistrates Court proceedings via sightlink, this link was terminated to accommodate a witness who had to use the sightlink to give evidence. The court didn’t have the facility to accommodate both.
Austin’s barrister, Mr Conor Lunny, told a previous court: “The defence is fairly straightforward. It's an alleged sending of an Instagram request. He accepts it’s from his account and accepts it was sent.
"He denies being that person and raises the issue of a potential software issue. He works within a company. They outsource their social media to an English company.
"It may well be that we get a report then certainly some information from that company. Otherwise we intend simply to put the prosecution on their proofs that it was he who sent the request."
The NI Court Service confirmed the charge was dismissed.
Earlier this year Austin pleaded guilty to two charges linked to sending unwanted ‘nasty’ messages to his ex-partner.
One charge accused him of the persistent improper use of a public electronic communications network between December 8, 2023 and December 1, 2024 for the purpose of annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.
A second charge accused Austin of the improper use of public electronic communications between December 22, 2023 and November 25, 2024, sending messages or other matters which were of a menacing character.
A prosecutor revealed that on Monday, December 2 last year, the victim went to Lurgan police station about ‘ongoing issues’ she had with her ex-partner, the defendant.
She told police that since December 8, 2023, Austin engaged in a course of conduct, taking place primarily over WhatsApp and phone calls, sending her “a slew of unwanted messages” and messages she perceived to be “nasty”.
The prosecutor said the upshot of these messages led to her feeling emotionally harmed and annoyed by the “continual calling and messaging”. The prosecuting barrister added that she said Austin was making allegations which were false.
On November 26 last year when the victim blocked the defendant on social media, he arrived at her address and “caused her some fear and alarm”.
"The messages, we would say, show an ongoing pattern of fixated, obsessive and unwanted communication,” said the prosecutor, adding that Austin did admit the offences during interview.
He informed the court there is an interim restraining order in place and asked that the district judge extend it for two years.
District Judge Michael Ranaghan sentenced Austin, in April, to a Combination Order including one-year of Probation supervision with 90 hours Community Service. The district judge warned Austin that if he breached, that the likelihood would be custody.
He also granted a Restraining Order saying, "I hope there is no repeat of this behaviour of any type.”