A policeman drew his gun to protect a female colleague after a man sent dogs to attack them, Fermanagh Court has heard.

The man, 26-year-old Stephen Morton, (right) of Cleenish Park, Enniskillen, denied setting the two pit bull-type dogs on the officers and assaulting them.

However, he was convicted of the offences, fined £400 and conditionally discharged for two years.

District Judge Benita Boyd spared the dogs the death penalty after hearing they were children’s pets.

“I’m not going to order the destruction of the animals,” she stated.

A policewoman had told the court how, on Saturday, August 23, she and a colleague went to a house at Florencecourt. She explained that she had been trying to serve Preliminary Enquiry papers in relation to a “very serious criminal matter” on Morton for eight months. She arrived at the house around 9.15am in a marked police car. She knocked the door and rang the bell for a couple of minutes. No-one answered but her colleague told her he could see movement within the house.

The officer said she walked around the side of the property and heard Morton shouting in a very aggressive manner: “Go get.” She explained that she recognised his voice from previous dealings with him.

“I heard dogs running,” she said. “I had been told he had two pit bull-type dogs at the property. I was in fear for my own safety at that stage, given the command he had given was very aggressive, and I retreated.” The officer said she then saw Morton with his fist clenched. He was shouting expletives towards her and her colleague, telling them to: “Get the f--k of my property. Take that f--king bitch away from here.” She said she saw Morton shouting at the dogs and pointing towards her colleague and believed “he was directing the dogs to attack him”.

The officer told the court that Morton refused to accept the Preliminary Enquiry papers so her colleague left them on top of a wheelie bin.

Her colleague gave evidence that he also heard a man shout: “Go get.” “I heard dogs paws running along the concrete around the side of the property,” he said.

“I drew my personal protection weapon,” he stated.

He said that immediately he saw the dogs he realised they were friendly and no threat and put the gun away.

Morton told the court he had been visiting his partner’s house and awoke to hear someone knocking the door and ringing the bell. He said he didn’t answer but went out the back to see who it was. He said the children’s dogs pushed out past him and ran around to the front garden to go to the toilet, as was their routine when let out in the morning. He said he shouted at them to come back.

“I seen the policeman with his gun out,” he stated.

He said the officer told him: “If your dogs come near men I’ll put them down.” Morton told the court the dogs ran away.

He denied shouting at the dogs: “Go get.” “Definitely not,” he maintained. “The only think I shouted was: ‘Come back.’” He said that when he was awoken by the “aggressive banging and ringing of the door bell” he was afraid.

“Everybody has enemies,” he explained.

The District Judge said she found the evidence of the police officers to be reliable, adding that “in fairness” Morton came around the corner of the house and saw a gun.

She said she accepted the prosecution evidence and found Morton guilty of all four charges.