A man who harassed his ex within hours of being freed from court was handed a three month suspended jail sentence on Monday.
Lisburn Magistrates’ Court heard that on Saturday morning, 36-year-old Grzegork Czapelka was fined for common assault.
And on Monday, the same court heard that 12 hours later the victim’s neighbour called police because Czapelka “had been knocking her door for about an hour”.
When police arrived, Czapelka was still there and he pleaded guilty to a single charge of harassment on Monday.
Defence solicitor John Rocks said Czapelka, from Drumalane Park in Newry, accepts entirely that he went back, revealing that with nothing to keep him in Northern Ireland, he intends to move back to Poland.
Imposing a three month jail sentence but suspending it for 12 months, District Judge Amanda Henderson said, given the fact he went back “within hours” of his court appearance, “it definitely crosses the custody threshold”.
