Larne man who made false claims calling an innocent man a 'paedophile' avoids jail after making public apology
A Larne man who made false paedophile claims against an innocent man avoided a prison sentence after making a public apology.
Christopher 'Hexter' Baxter (49), of Ballymullock Road near Larne, was given a five months prison term, suspended for three years, for harassment.
He was at Ballymena Magistrates Court on Thursday which heard the defendant made an apology on Facebook regarding the case. The court was told the original posts on social media had also been removed.
He had also supplied a written apology to the court and an apology on behalf of the defendant was read out to the court by a defence barrister.
The message read to the court said: 'I want to make a public and sincere apology to (the named man). A recent post I made contained a serious and completely false accusation about him. I understand what I said was untrue and I had no right reason to say it. I take full responsibility for the harm upset and embarrassment this has caused.
'To be absolutely clear (the man) has done nothing wrong and I regret making any statement that suggested otherwise. I apologise to (the man), his family and anyone who saw my post.'
Baxter was recently convicted at court of harassment after going onto Facebook to falsely label the man as a paedophile. He had named the 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".
A defence barrister told Thursday's Court the defendant has done "charitable work" in the community.
He said the defendant has had "quite harrowing" personal circumstances which impacted on his "mental health" and "his emotions got the better of him" regarding the posts he made.
The lawyer said the defendant "totally regrets" what he had done and is "remorseful".
District Judge Nigel Broderick said a victim personal statement showed the impact Baxter's comments had.
He told the defendant: "Clearly your malicious post has had significant effect on the victim not just personally but his wider family and social circle and it has had financial implications as well."
Judge Broderick hoped the court appearance, the public apology in court and the social media apology "will be some comfort to the victim".
The judge said the serous nature of the charge meant the custody threshold was crossed "however, given your expressions of remorse and limited record, I am prepared to suspend any sentence".
The defendant was given five months in jail, suspended for three years. A one-year Restraining Order was also put in place.