A 34-year-old man who was found guilty of making over 100 silent phone calls to a woman in the space of one month has been handed a two year restraining order.

David Kerr, from Grogey Road, Fivemiletown appeared at Dungannon Magistrates Court yesterday (Wednesday) and was told not to go within 100 metres of the woman or contact her by any means. He also received a three month jail sentence, suspended for two years.

At an earlier court hearing Kerr denied harassing the woman on dates between January 20 and February 18, 2014, but District Judge John Meehan said he had “no doubt” that Kerr had made the phone calls. District Judge Meehan stated: “That behaviour – over 100 calls over that period of time – does constitute harassment.”

The previous court hearing heard a statement from the woman, in which she said: “The first time I contacted police was in September 2012. I had been getting abuse since June 2012. I don’t know when it will end. I want it all to stop.”

The court heard that the woman had been in her kitchen on February 10, 2014 when she saw Kerr park at the Co-Op in Fivemiletown and look towards her window. She said he then drove slowly past her house and looked up, making her feel “intimidated and worried”.

She said:

“It was very apparent that he saw me and was letting me know he knew where I lived.”

Constable Andrew Russell then showed the court CCTV footage of a man matching Kerr’s description buying a Vodafone mobile top up from the Co-Op just before 6pm on February 10.

The Constable said that, during interview, Kerr denied making three silent phone calls to the woman from that number on the evening of February 10 and denied making a total of 119 silent phone calls from that number to the woman over the following month.

However, District Judge John Meehan said: “It was indeed Mr. Kerr who was in the store, bought the mobile phone top up and made the calls.”

At yesterday’s hearing Kerr was given a restraining order in order to protect the woman from further harassment.