Larne man ordered to remove Facebook posts and make a 'public apology' on social media
A judge has ordered a Larne man to remove posts on Facebook and to make a "genuine apology" on the social media platform.
District Judge Nigel Broderick was speaking at Ballymena Magistrates' Court in relation to Christopher Baxter who had falsely labelled a person as a 'paedophile'.
Baxter, of Ballymullock Road near Larne, was due to be sentenced on Thursday but was not in attendance.
Judge Broderick said if he fails to attend without good reason on December 18 he will consider an arrest warrant.
The judge said he had read a Victim Personal Statement and the impact on the victim had been "very concerning".
Judge Broderick said: "Clearly the victim has sustained significant emotional trauma and has sustained financial loss".
He added: "But of particular concern is the portion of the Victim Personal Statement where he says these posts and comments are still active. So I want those taken down immediately and I would suggest that Mr Baxter, on Facebook, publishes, for everyone to see, a wholesome and genuine apology and make it clear that the allegations he attributed to the victim are wholly erroneous and have no truth whatsoever and I want to see evidence of that apology".
The judge said he is "considering immediate custody".
Baxter was recently convicted at court after going onto Facebook to falsely label a person as a paedophile.
He had named a man in a series of Facebook posts between August 6-11 this year.
At the earlier court the man Baxter had posted about watched on from the public gallery of the court where the defendant was in the dock.
A prosecutor previously told Antrim Magistrates' Court, sitting in Ballymena: "Just to state in open court the injured party does not have any criminal record".
She said the messages were "completely malicious" and amounted to a course of conduct to "annoy and harass the injured party".
She told the court Baxter had made "multiple" Facebook posts which "contained the victim's name" and "photos of the victim labelling him a paedophile and various other slurs suggesting he had a sexual attraction to children".
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Alternative charges - one of harassment and one of improper use of a communications network to send 'grossly offensive' messages - had been brought against the defendant.
A defence barrister told the earlier court his instructions from the defendant were to "agree the prosecution case".
The lawyer said the defendant had faced two charges "in respect of messages which he accepts he sent".
The barrister had asked the judge to make a determination on which charge to convict Baxter on.
The defendant declined to take the stand to give evidence on his own behalf.
District Judge Nigel Broderick told the earlier court it was "quite clear" it had been harassment and convicted Baxter, who had a previous record, of that charge and dismissed the second charge on the basis that it was a duplicate.
The judge said: "To send these malicious posts and to use abusive language I am entirely satisfied it amounts to harassment".
An interim Restraining Order is in place.