A transgender woman charged with assaulting her sister and causing criminal damage to a glass has been granted bail.
Michelle James (64), with an address at Cloughey on the Ards peninsula, is alleged to have committed offences on March 13 this year.
She appeared at Craigavon Magistrates’ Court on Friday via video link from Hydebank Prison.
A defence barrister said the defendant had previously been granted bail subject to an address being approved by police.
Objecting to bail, a police officer said it was “community tensions-related” and said he was concerned about the defendant’s “own personal safety” if she returned to an address in Cloughey.
He said the “community are aware of her other ongoing cases in that area” and “police would have concerns about her own safety in the property”.
He said that was why the defendant ended up living with her sister in Lurgan.
The officer said police took the matters in Cloughey “so seriously” that they were in attendance when the defendant had been in Cloughey to “collect belongings”.
The officer showed Deputy District Judge Trevor Browne “messages” which police were aware of.
A defence barrister said police were objecting to bail at the would-be bail address “on the basis of a threat”.
He said efforts had been made to get another address at places like hostels “but there is no other suitable address”.
He said the defendant was effectively being kept in custody on remand due to the “actions of others”.
Judge Browne said it was a “difficult application to deal with” because it was “effectively putting the burden of protecting the defendant which is clearly a significant issue of police resources” but he said that otherwise she was deemed a suitable candidate for bail.
He said police had expressed “significant concerns” about the address which were “well based, in my view, regarding the document that I was shown”.
The judge said the issue really was “the personal safety of the defendant” and he added: “That is a risk I think that the defendant will have to take and I am going to sanction” the bail application.
He said efforts to find an alternative address had been “futile” and he said the the balance was in favour of bailing the defendant to the address “and that is really as far as the court can take it”.
He said he appreciated “the police’s genuine attempts to safeguard her safety”.
The case was adjourned to May 8.
At Ards Magistrates’ Court recently, in a different case, the defendant was given a suspended prison term for throwing a punch at a neighbour in Cloughey and a Restraining Order was also put in place.
A prosecutor had told that court: “This is a case which is perceived to be a homophobic hate crime, aggravated by hostility. The defendant made a homophobic comment before attempting to assault the victim”.
Ards Court was had been told that on Sunday December 2, 2024, a person was putting rubbish out to bins and the person alleged the defendant was intoxicated and called them a “f***ing f****t”.
The prosecutor said the person alleged the defendant “threw a punch towards” them and the defendant had to be “restrained”.
The defendant had a record.
A defence solicitor had told Ards Court the defendant had been “abusing alcohol”.
He said the defendant had “quite a traumatic life change” in the “development” of their life in recent years.
The lawyer said his client had “very poor recollection” of this case before Ards Court.
He said it was a “very minor case” involving “apprehension and fear” of assault.
He added that “nobody likes to be called any names” but the defendant “has been the recipient of all types of name calling by a number of people” and “knows exactly what it feels like”.
