A man has received a three-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, after vile Facebook messages threatening the safety of the mother of his child contributed to a breach of a non-molestation order. 
District Judge, Trevor Browne, also imposed a restraining order for 18 months on the defendant, Albert Aaron Saunders of Belmore Street, Enniskillen. 
The Court heard how on June 14, 2018 at 9.05am police served Saunders with the non-molestation order and that ten minutes later, at 9.15am police received a call from the applicant of the order claiming that a threatening voicemail had been left on her phone by the defendant.
The court also heard how the defendant sent messages via Facebook messenger to his cousin where he threatened that he was going to “burn” the applicant out and “hurt” her because “she was a c**t”. 
The messages were forwarded to the woman by the defendant’s cousin and subsequently passed on to the police. 
Upon arrest by police the following day, June 15, the defendant expressed extreme anger at the circumstances and admitted to the Facebook messages and the threats. And when asked whether he had left the voicemail on the applicant’s phone he replied: “I must have, you have it.”
The court heard how the defendant told police that he had not meant the Facebook messages and that he was remorseful but that he was angry and worried that he would not be able to see his child. 
Defending barrister, Stefan Rafferty, said that there was nothing of this nature on his client’s record and that his client had accepted that he had sent the messages and that he accepted that he should not have done it but that they were borne out of anger and frustration. 
Mr Rafferty went on to say that his client had faced significant “family problems” recently and this coupled with his relationship break down had resulted in these “unsavoury communications”. 
In his remarks on the case, District Judge, Trevor Browne explained that he was unsurprised that the applicant found herself living in “extreme fear” due to the actions of Saunders:
“He comes before the court with a litany of offences and he quite clearly terrified the lady, and I am not surprised by that given the nature of the messages.”
Saunders was given a three-month sentence that was suspended for 18 months and an application for an 18 month restraining order against Saunders was granted by Mr Browne.