A man who threatened to slice the throat and burn out the occupant of a house he tried to gain access to has walked free from court.
Due to time served, Niall Patrick McNulty, of no fixed abode Newry, was able to walk free from Newry Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday having had a four-month custodial sentence imposed upon him by District Judge Eamon King.
The 35-year-old was arrested on Saturday, June 29 when police were tasked to a property in Newry following a report of a male trying to kick the front door in.
The prosecution told the court that when police arrived the front door was lying wide open and they could hear shouting coming from inside the property.
Police entered and saw McNulty standing on the landing, shouting in an aggressive manner, “I’m going to kill him boy”.
There was also a woman present who explained to police that the defendant had attended the property with her in order to “get belongings and money that was owed to her, as she was the previous tenant”.
McNulty was “very agitated and continued to shout at the injured party and his wife”.
The injured party and his wife had locked themselves in an upstairs bedroom and had recorded the defendant shouting and banging on the door.
Police viewed this mobile phone footage, and the defendant can be heard shouting, “I’ll slice your throat” at the start of the recording, and then “I will kill him, boy”.
He has also heard saying, “I have a f****** chainsaw down there, and I’ll cut that door down. I will burn you where you are. I’ll jump in your head, and if I come through that door, you’re not coming out alive”.
The injured party and his wife were visibly upset and frightened by this incident. McNulty was arrested before he shouted “they’ll not be here tomorrow, they’ll be smoked out”.
McNulty’s defence barrister said his client wasn’t long out of prison when this “most unsavoury” incident occurred.
He explained: “He went with a girl, who was previously an occupant of this house and who wanted to retrieve her belongings from the house [but] the people in the house wouldn’t give them to her.
“He became involved in a very volatile way, and tried to force his way in to help this girl to get her belongings, so he wasn’t there to rob a house or do anything of that nature; he went to, in his subjective mind, assist this girl who needed her belongings out of the house and in the course of all of that, he uttered the words that he’s now admitted and subjectively, these people believed that there was a danger to them.”
He added: “But thereafter, he was taken into custody and spent the last four months in prison. Now, as bad as facts of the case are, I respectfully say to the court that he has suffered a punishment.”
Judge King concurred, describing the it as “an unsavoury incident”, however, “the court has been told that you’ve served the equivalent of an eight month prison sentence in relation to these matters”.
Judge Kiing said he was “wiping the slate clean today” and imposed a four month custodial sentence which meant McNulty was free to leave custody.
