A man charged with multiple breaches of a barring order has been warned to stay out of County Donegal.
The man was brought before Letterkenny District Court where he was granted bail with strict conditions imposed by Judge Éiteáin Cunningham.
The man, who is aged in his 30s and from Northern Ireland, cannot be named for legal reasons.
He was brought to court charged with nine alleged breaches of a barring order that was issued in February of this year.
Detective Garda Mark Deavin gave evidence of arresting the man on Saturday, July 13, at 6.15pm and of charging him at 11.43pm on the same night.
After one charge, the man told gardai: “That’s when she phoned me and told me to run.”
To another charge, the accused responded: “I don’t send email. She probably senr that when she hacked my account.”
He repeated a similar allegation to a further charge by saying: “Same again. She hacked my stuff.”
The man told detectives when another of the charges was put to him: “I don’t have a Snapchat. She forced me to remove my Snapchat in December and I haven’t had one since.”
He told detectives “that’s not my number” and “no comment” to two other charges and made no reply to a further charge.
“She phoned me going mad, thinking I was booking a B&B with someone else,” he said in relation to another of the charges.
When the final charge was put to him, the accused said: “It’s the same as the last statement. I put money down on an Airbnb to see if she was hacking me and she phoned me saying who the fuck are you going away with?”
Gardai objected to bail, noting the number of the charges, the seriousness of the charges, the likely sentence to be imposed were he to be convicted and that the accused man was to have no contact with the alleged victim, either directly or indirectly.
The court heard that the defendant made contact with the woman by telephone, email and Snapchat and that they had met in Northern Ireland.
The woman was put into the witness box and told the court that she spoke to the man on the phone and he asked to meet for a coffee “once a week to see if we could make things work. Take it at a snail’s pace”.
She told Judge Cunningham that the man had video called her “several times”.
The woman said she was not in a relationship with the man.
“I repeatedly told him it couldn’t work,” she said. “There was some want, but I didn’t believe that we could get there.”
The woman claimed that the man booked an Airbnb for her and told her that she “deserved a break” and assured her that he had no intention of going to the location. Within 30 minutes of her arriving, the man turned up.
She told the court that after an initial argument they spent the night together.
The man claimed to the court that the woman was “hacking my stuff” and had changed his Tinder profile. He said he booked an Airbnb with a ‘mate’ and the woman rang him immediately after the booking was confirmed.
He told the court that the woman told him on the phone: “Run. They’re going to put you away.”
He said he was aware of the conditions of the barring order
Judge Cunningham said it was her view that “neither party has any regard for the court order”.
She said there were occasions where the alleged injured party has contacted the man and had spent the night with him voluntarily, albeit on an occasion where there was an issue over when the man presented first.
Judge Cunningham said the matter was of concern given the order that must be complied with.
“If there is a continual breach of the order, I have no doubt the gardai will bring an application to revoke bail and the court would have no alternative but to revoke the bail,” she told the man.
Bail was granted on strict conditions.
The man was granted bail in his own bond of €500, €250 of which had to be lodged to the court.
Strict conditions were imposed on the bail, including that the man not commit any offence and be of good behaviour; that he reside at an address given to gardai and inform the authorities of any change; that he sign on once a week at a nominated garda station; that he be contactable by telephone 24/7; to abide by the domestic violence order that is in place; and that he stay out of County Donegal save for signing on and court appearance.
The man was also ordered to have no contact in any way whatsoever, either directly or indirectly through social media or otherwise, with the alleged injured party.
“That means, regardless of whether she rings, emails or Snapchats you, you are not to respond,” Judge Cunningham said, “and you are certainly not to instigate it”.
The man asked what he should do if the woman contacts him and the Judge said: “You are not to respond and let the Gardai know if she does”
The man was remanded on bail to Ballyshannon District Court on July 19.