Dollingstown man returned from Iceland to face sentencing at Craigavon court for harassing a woman through people she knew via Facebook Messenger

Christopher William Lawrence Foye, aged 42, from Belfast Road, Dollingstown near Lurgan, appeared before Craigavon Magistrates Court.

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At a previous court he was convicted in his absence of harassment and breaching a Restraining Order on September 13, 2022 and September 18, 2022.

Foye’s barrister, Mr John Paul McCann, said the reason it had taken so long to come before the courts is because his client had gone to Iceland to pursue a job opportunity as an engineer and had just recently returned as his elderly father is in poor health.

"He left Iceland to come home and look after his father,” he told the court.

A prosecutor revealed there had been a report to police by the ex-partner of the defendant. Foye had been subject to a Restraining Order forbidding him to harass or pester the woman. However he sent a message to her hairdresser and neighbour via Facebook on September 13, 2022.

The message said he was the father of the injured party’s children and asked how they are getting on. Both parties had never met the defendant and the injured party had no idea how he would know they would be around her children.

"The injured party is very strict on social media and doesn’t post anything about her children,” said the prosecutor.

On September 17, 2022, the defendant messaged the injured party’s brother-in-law. The message stated ‘Having fun at the wedding. Can’t wait to hear the speeches. Hope you all rot in hell’ and called them ‘disgusting excuses for human beings’.

"This put the injured party in fear as this was in relation to her up-coming wedding,” said the prosecutor. “She had no idea how he knew about this and had no access to her on social media. And no family or friends would have given this information.”

She added that the injured party had been harassed by the defendant, through friends and family, prior to the Restraining Order being put in place.

Deputy District Judge Gerard Trainor said as there is a suspended sentence in place he was considering sending Foye to prison.

He adjourned the case until September 24 for a pre-sentence report and set up an interim Restraining Order until September 24.

"Because of your criminal record, which is prolonged, with all sorts of offences and convictions starting from an early time with offences of dishonesty, burglary and fraud and harassment and now these offences for which you still have to be sentenced.

"The court has to consider whether the only option open to it is to send you to prison,” said the deputy district judge, ordering Foye to cooperate with the Probation Service.

He reminded Foye that he was directing a Restraining Order, banning him from contacting, directly or indirectly, the injured party in the case.

"If you do, you will have committed another offence,” he told Foye, who was released on his own bail of £300.