A 29-year-old man has appeared at Fermanagh Magistrates Court to answer charges of common assault and possession of a class B drug.

Mark Anthony Spillane with an address of MacNean Court, Belcoo faces the charges in relation to two separate incidents on April 10, 2019 and September 25, 2017.

The court heard that on April 10 at around 2.10pm Spillane was walking past KFC in Enniskillen when he was confronted by the injured party regarding posts that had been posted on social media.

The injured party and the defendant began arguing which led to Spillane punching the injured party to the ground.

Spillane was arrested and made no reply when cautioned.

The second incident, which took place on September 25, 2017 saw police force entry to a house through the living room window as the door was locked to carry out a search of the property.

There were two people in the house, one who was identified as the defendant.

A search of the property located cannabis in a wheelie bin. This was brought for forensic analysis and a total of £260 worth of cannabis was found at the address.

Spillane denied all knowledge of the drugs and became irate when he was being questioned.

Spillane’s solicitor told the court that in relation to the assault his client was approached by the injured party who had been taunting him hoping to catch Spillane’s reaction on video.

He said the injured party was familiar to the court and the comments made were of a highly personal nature.

Spillane’s defence said that his client accepted he threw a punch but there was a high level of provocation.

In relation to the discovery of drugs, Spillane’s solicitor said his client used cannabis for his own personal use.

District Judge Michael Ranaghan accepted that Spillane had been provoked in some way and having read the pre-sentence report decided on imposing 18 months probation and 80 hours of community service for the common assault charge.

For the drugs, Judge Ranaghan said it was a significant find and by consequence fined him £250 as well as ordering 40 hours of community service to run concurrently alongside the common assault sentence.