Guilty of assaults and making threats to kill

Bernard Larkin, Limewood, Banbridge, pleaded guilty to three common assaults, two on females and one on a male, two threats to kill and a threat to damage or destroy a house.

The court heard that on September 19 last year a 13-year-old girl came home and saw the defendant who lived nearby. He was talking to another person and threatening to beat up the child’s father. Larkin told the girl she was really cheeky and he wanted to speak to her parents.

He went round to the back of their house at the patio door and was told to leave the garden by another female.

Larkin said she was a ‘stupid cheeky b—h’ and when her parents came home he was ‘going to beat the s—t’ out of them. She was very frightened.

The father arrived back after walking the dog. Larkin squared up to him and the injured party thought he was going to be head-butted.

A woman saw the defendant in the street in front of the girl who was crying hysterically. She approached him and his forehead touched with her forehead. Larkin told her he would burn her house and ‘kill the f—king lot of yous’. .

A barrister representing the defendant said his client had lived in the estate for some time without any issues.

He explained that the matter started with children and name calling.

The lawyer said that the defendant was adamant there was no physical assault.

He added that since the incident Larkin had been residing in Belfast away from his family and hoped to return to the estate where he lives with his mother and his siblings. He was the oldest of six children.

District Judge Eamonn King said at first blush this looked like a very serious matter but it was important to get both sides of the story.

He added that it was distressing for everybody that was involved but there was no physical contact and the matter lasted for about ten minutes.

The judge said a pre-sentence report showed that when the parents split up the defendant had adopted the significant male role for the younger children.

“This has been a lesson to him,” said Judge King. “I’m satisfied I can deal with this in a less serious manner.”

He bound Larkin over in the sum of £500 to be of good behaviour for 18 months.

A condition of the binding over is that he is not to come into conflict with his neighbours in Limewood.

Judge King added that he also had statements from the injured parties which showed that there had been no more trouble and relationships have been cordial which was encouraging.