Northern Ireland weekly courts round-up as cases include teen rape charge withdrawn

Here are some of the cases that appeared in courts around Northern Ireland this week, November 24-28

Key cases before Northern Ireland courts this week

• A West Belfast man who assaulted his neighbour after he complained about “loud music and singing” coming from his apartment was spared immediate custody on Monday, November 24. Judge Gordon Kerr KC made Liam Kavanagh the subject of a two-year probation order to help him receive expert supervision to deal with his mental health issues. Kavanagh, 33, of Oranmore Street off the Falls Road, had previously pleaded guilty to a charge of grievous bodily harm.
• A teenager was on Monday handed a four-year sentence for his role in this summer’s riots in Ballymena which were described by a judge as “disgraceful and racially motivated”. As Judge Peter Irvine KC ordered 19-year-old Harvey Shaw to serve two years in custody and two years under licence conditions, a woman in the public gallery put her head in her hands and ran from the court in tears.
• A trial concerning a Co Down man accused of sexually abusing three sisters when they were children commenced in Belfast on Monday. Robert Gary Robinson, from Glen Road in Comber, has been charged with 43 separate offences dating back to the late 70s and 80s. The 63-year old, who goes by the name Gary Robinson, has been excused from attending his trial after being deemed medically unfit and did not appear in the dock of Belfast Crown Court.
• A North Belfast man allegedly used a vulnerable young woman over a four-year period by providing her with drugs in exchange for sex, the High Court heard on Tuesday. Thomas Crossey, 56, also arranged to have up to 25 other men pay him to sleep with her at his flat in the city, it was claimed. Prosecutors also contended he used a racial slur in describing how another woman would be “put to work”. Crossey, of Henderson Avenue, denies charges of controlling prostitution for gain, human trafficking and causing someone to engage in sexual activity.
• An East Belfast man who told two schoolgirls he was a police officer then displayed what he claimed was his personal protection weapon was handed a two-year sentence on Wednesday. Steven Hamilton – who said he was ‘just trying to be the big man’ – appeared at Belfast Crown Court. From Upper Newtownards Road, the 53-year old was sentenced by Judge Neil Rafferty KC who divided the two-year term equally between prison and licence.
• A Belfast social worker has been charged with an ‘air rage’ attack, alleged to have been committed in Hurghada in Egypt. Nadine Nugent, 35, has been charged with seven offences, all said to have been committed on 21 May this year. Nugent, from Ardmoulin Place in the west of the city, faces three charges of common assault in addition to single counts of making a threat to kill, failing to comply with the lawful command of the pilot, behaving in a threatening, abusive or insulting manner and being drunk on an aircraft. The case came before Antrim Magistrates Court, sitting in Ballymena on Tuesday.
• Two Belfast men who carried out a street robbery in the early hours of last Christmas Eve were jailed on Wednesday. Dean Byers (28) from Helens Wood and 38-year old Jonathan Gordon from Victoria Parade admitted charges of robbery and affray. The pair appeared at Belfast Crown Court where they each received a sentence of 32 months.
• A former chef was jailed for six months on Thursday after he burgled and “ransacked” a student house in south Belfast. Christopher John Barr, 33, whose address was given on court papers as c/o of Social Security Agency, Royal Avenue, Belfast, had previously pleaded guilty to a single count of burglary. The court heard a fingerprint lift was taken off a sachet of chicken seasoning which matched Barr’s profile.
• A Belfast man who acted as a drugs courier for an organised crime gang avoided an immediate jail sentence on Thursday. William Hugh James Millar (55) from Derwent Street was handed a 27-month sentence which was suspended for three years by Judge Gordon Kerr KC. He was arrested following a police operation in the Shankill area of the city on May 26, 2022. Millar was driving a Value Cabs taxi and after it was stopped and searched, officers located a bag containing a package of compressed white powder behind the driver’s seat.
• Two Romanian teenagers accused of attempting to rape a schoolgirl in Ballymena are to have the charges withdrawn, a judge ordered on Friday. The boys, aged 14 and 15, have been held in custody since the alleged sexual assault which led to sustained racially-motivated rioting in the Co Antrim town during the summer. But at Belfast Youth Court the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) was granted permission to end criminal proceedings against the defendants based on “significant evidential developments”.
• A Belfast man who contacted a 12-year old schoolgirl online then demanded she perform and record “degrading acts” for his sexual gratification was jailed for two years on Friday. Tommy Reader, who is 21 and from Cliftonville Avenue, attended his sentence hearing at Belfast Crown Court via a videolink with HMP Maghaberry. Describing Reader’s offending as “catfishing on the internet”, Judge Neil Rafferty KC imposed a four-year sentence which was divided equally between prison and supervised licence.

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