Lurgan man stole from and coercively controlled his parents to pay off drug debts 'weaponised' his mental health issues, Craigavon court hears
A Co Armagh man, who stole from his parents to pay off drug debts, ‘weaponised’ his mental health issues to leverage money from them, a court has heard.
Nathan Power, aged 28, from Springwell Gardens, Lurgan, appeared before Craigavon Magistrates Court via video link from Maghaberry Prison.
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Power’s barrister, Mr Conor Lunny, said his client pleaded guilty to two counts of theft and two counts of domestic abuse.
He added the defendant has currently completed a nine-month jail term.
The court heard that in December 9 last year, police received a report from the defendant’s father that his son had stolen money from both parents.
He had stolen £80 or thereabouts from his mother on November 26 and December 9 last year and £80 from his father on December 4 last year.
A prosecutor said: “The defendant had been using coercively controlling behaviour over two years in order to get them to give large amounts of money for what both parents perceived to be large, drug-related debts."
Mr Lunny said his client has been in custody since December 9. The barrister said there’s “little to be said in mitigation” but his client has “managed to clean himself up” while in jail.
“He’s passed numerous drug tests. He’s kept out of trouble. He’s going to the gym. He has a job as an orderly,” said Mr Lunny.
The barrister said Power’s parents had “done all they could” for their son.
“But he was in the grip of a really severe addiction combined with his own fragile mental health. He accepts that he would have weaponised that in a really quite aggressive manner to try and leverage some money out of them to try and pay his drug debts. That is really the heart of the domestic abuse offence,” said Mr Lunny.
"It happened for quite some time. It happened on more than on occasion and there’s no defence to it,” he said.
Deputy District Judge Gerard Trainor sentenced Power to four months in jail for each of the theft offences and for the domestic abuse charges he was given a six month’s sentence to run concurrently. He also activated a suspended sentence which resulted in a total of nine months custody for Power. He also issued Restraining Orders in favour of the defendant’s parents.