Woman told the PSNI she believed her ex-partner stalked her using a tracker, Craigavon court hears

Mohamed Silo, aged 40, from Gobhan Close, Portadown appeared before Craigavon Magistrates Court via video link from Maghaberry Prison faces three charges including stalking and harassment between December 9 last year to January 1 this year and domestic abuse between January 1 last year and January 1 this year.

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Opposing bail, a PSNI officer told the court that the woman contacted police on Saturday, January 3 this year claiming Silo, was ‘appearing at different locations around Lurgan’.

She claimed she would drive her car to a location and soon after, her ex-partner would appear and intimidate her, the officer said, adding the complainant believes there was ‘some sort of tracking device in her car or phone’.

She told police that on December 9 last year, she dropped her children to school and the defendant was at home sleeping. She went for a run in Portadown and afterwards sat on a bench.

"She was scrolling on her phone which she got two days prior and at 9.29am she received a notification on her phone, staying her location had been pinned,” the officer told the court.

She had never seen this before however approximately five to 10 minutes later, the defendant is alleged to have drove passed her and ‘looked at her’.

"She couldn't understand how he knew where she was and why he was even out of the house, as he had just been asleep before they left. She phoned him straight away and asked, what are you doing here?” the officer told the court.

“He said he was taking bread to his friend’s house. However, she was aware that it was not the direction of his friend's house. She advised that she knew he was tracking her, and that she was going to tell the police,” said the officer, adding the complainant told Silo she wanted him out of the house.

She said he ‘appeared worried’, packed a bag and left that day. She found it strange as she'd been asking him to leave for two months but he refused.

Silo hadn’t been living with the complainant since this incident, however on either December 28 or 29, she had been at Santander bank in Portadown at the ATM. She saw the defendant standing in front of her calling her abusive names in Arabic before driving off.

On December 30, at 10.30pm, the injured party was in Portadown when her vehicle broke down. She called her sister’s husband to help and contacted Silo as she needed the insurance policy number.

He responded saying he knew where the car is and ‘who is near the car and he can sort it’ refusing to provide the number.

While with her brother-in-law, Silo arrived demanding the car keys. She didn’t know how he knew where the car was as no one told him and she believes he was tracking her phone or vehicle.

Later Silo is said to have gone to the woman’s house where a child gave him the keys and the defendant got the car fixed and returned it, despite not being asked to do so.

On January 1 this year, the complainant was at her sister’s house in Lurgan when she received a message from Silo containing an image of her vehicle outside the address saying he was going to the solicitor.

“He deleted it straight away but the complainant was able to take a screen shot of it which has been provided to police,” said the officer.

"She states that through the relationship Silo was very controlling. She had to ask him to use the car, tell him where she was going and doing and he would give her a specific timeframe of when she had to be back. If she was not back on the dot he would phone her and ask where she was.

"He did not like her family and told her she could not talk to them. When he was in the house, he didn’t want to hear their voices. She had to wait until he was out of the house to speak with them and would hang up before he came back in. He bad-mouthed her to people in the community as if he was trying to damage her reputation.

"She feels harassed and scared to leave her house,” said the officer, adding the woman claimed Silo had been ‘physically abusive in the past’.

He was arrested and denied the allegations. Regarding the incident on December 9, Silo claimed he finished work at the bakery and later drove to a friend’s house but ‘was lost in thoughts’ and saw the complainant. He denied having any sort of tracker.

Regarding the incident on December 28 / 29, he denied being at the ATM. Regarding the broken-down car, he admitted seeing it with the bonnet up and stopped to check. He claimed he was ordered by her to get the vehicle sorted and did.

Regarding the January 1 incident, he admitted he had a picture of the vehicle at his sister-in-law’s house and that someone had sent it to him.

He denied controlling the woman’s movements and isolating her from her family or being physically abusive.

The officer said the woman is regarded as ‘high risk’ with the majority of her family living in Turkey and is looking after four children alone.

She said police believe Silo ‘poses a risk to himself and others’.

Silo’s barrister, Mr Aaron Thompson, said his client submitted his phone and given a ‘detailed account’.

District Judge Michael Ranaghan granted him bail to live at an address suitable to police and tagged. He is barred from any contact with the complainant and is barred from Portadown and Craigavon. He is also barred from having access to an internet-enabled phone. The case was adjourned until January 16.