Armagh man who breached restraining order multiple times has sentencing deferred

An Armagh man guilty of numerous breaches of a restraining order has had his sentencing deferred, despite being in breach of a suspended sentence.

Leroy Brady, of Drumbreda Avenue, appeared before Armagh Magistrates’ Court, sitting at Newry Courthouse, via video-link from Maghaberry.

The 45-year-old was charged with two breaches of a restraining order.

Prosecution outlined that in the early hours of June 21 of this year, police attended a call at an address in Armagh regarding a domestic incident. Police arrived and spoke to the defendant who volunteered to show police text messages on his phone.

Police observed the message being sent between the defendant and the victim and the defendant then admitted to contacting the victim via telephone.

Checks on police systems confirmed that the defendant was the subject of a restraining order which prevented him from contacting the victim. He was arrested and on June 22 admitted to the breach at interview.

A further incident occurred between October 5 and 9. The court did not hear the facts in relation to this incident, but was told that it involved “similar circumstances” with the same injured party.

Brady’s defence solicitor asked the District Judge for credit, given his client’s guilty plea.

“The difficulties he faced in childhood, which were difficulties no child should ever have to face, have really caught up on him and have fed a depression,” he said.

“It’s a consequence of that he’s landed himself in difficulties with the court.”

District Judge Anne Marshall, presiding, said: “He’s in breach of a suspended sentence for breaching a combination order and probation order.

“I’m not entirely confident yet that this behaviour has stopped.”

District Judge Marshall added: “You really should be getting a prison sentence today because you’re in breach of a suspended sentence which is for a combination order and a probation order.

“The probation was imposed for offences relating to this same injured party. Then the other one was imposed for improper use of public telecommunications [same injured party].

“I need this to stop otherwise you will end up getting a lengthy prison sentence.”

District Judge Marshall deferred sentencing in the case for six months, until May 23 next year, saying: “If you come back before me and you have no new offences you will not go back into custody.”

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