Man (28), who returned to Lurgan from Bulgaria to face charges of attacking his neighbour, is given a suspended jail term

Isus Nikolaev, aged 28, from Victoria Street, Lurgan, appeared before Craigavon Magistrates Court on Wednesday charged with common assault.

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Nikolaev’s lawyer said the case dates back to January 10, 2023 and her client had left Ireland to go back to Bulgaria as his mother was “extremely unwell”. He only returned back to this jurisdiction on October 22 and he tried to present himself to Lurgan Police Station as he knew this was an ongoing matter.

The lawyer said police took him to Lisburn and her client was not aware who his previous legal representation was so she was asked to represent him. Nikolaev instructs that he wants the matter dealt with.

She said: “He made full admissions in interview that there was a fight. There was an ongoing issue. It was a neighbour dispute. He has no contact with this man anymore and just wants this matter dealt with.”

The defendant was convicted in his absence in October.

The court heard that on January 10 last year at 2pm the injured party said he was in his apartment building but his neighbour, the defendant, was blocking the landing at the stairwell.

"The injured party said ‘excuse me’ and was made to wait by the defendant. The defendant then said ‘now you go’ acting like he could control when the injured party could pass. The injured party laughed and said words to the effect of ‘F off’ and carried on down the stairs.

"The defendant has then come after the injured party to the ground floor and has kicked and began assaulting him by punching him. The fight then spilled outside the building where the defendant’s friend ran over and pulled the defendant off the injured party,” said the Prosecutor, adding CCTV captured the incident.

The defendant reported the incident to police and claimed he had injured his hand in the incident. During interviewed he admitted to fighting with the injured party.

District Judge Michael Ranaghan said an aggravating feature of the assault is that it happened where the complainant lives. He sentenced the defendant to a three months jail term, suspended for one year.