Greenisland man was 'foaming at the mouth' and screamed 'vile comments' in face of female neighbour

David McCready (31), whose address was listed as Rossmore Green in Greenisland, admitted a charge of harassment which happened, according to the charge sheet, between May 1, 2020 and August 4 last year.

Ballymena Magistrates' Court was told on Thursday, January 23 that the defendant had been harassing the woman with texts and on Facebook but he was blocked on all platforms and was told not to contact her.

The defendant had a record.

A defence barrister told the court it was a serious case. He said the defendant has "ongoing support through his local church".

District Judge Nigel Broderick asked why the defendant became "so fixated". The defence barrister said the defendant and the woman had been "friends" and she had been a neighbour.

Reading from the victim's statement, the district judge said it was an "extremely serious" case and the defendant had "for want of a better word, tortured" the woman for four years.

The judge said McCready would approach her in the street, come up into her face and "scream vile things" at her and at "one point, she says, you were so angry you were foaming at the mouth".

"She was completely terrified and her legs started to shake. You lunge at her. She thought you were going to hit her, and on some of the occasions her child was with her when this happened," the District Judge Broderick said.

He made reference to the fact that the defendant had fixed a date for a contested hearing and left it to the "eleventh hour" before pleading guilty.

The judge said there must be a clear message that such behaviour will be dealt with "robustly" and perpetrators can "readily expect immediate custodial sentences, limited record or no limited record".

He sentenced the defendant to four months in custody and also put a two-year Retraining Order in place.

Bail in the sum of £500 was fixed for the defendant to appeal.