Omagh man breached court order four days after it was imposed

AN OMAGH man has received a five-month jail term for breaching a restraining order just four days after it was imposed.

At Strabane Magistrates Court, Peter McCann (30), originally from Omagh, was sentenced for the offence.

Previously, McCann had been given a four-month sentence, suspended for three years, for domestic abuse. As part of the original sentencing, a restraining order was imposed in favour of the victim. However, on April 9 – just four days later – he breached the court order.

Defence counsel Damien Halleron told the court that the breach had arisen from a text message to the victim to organise child contact.

District Judge Oonagh Mullan convicted McCann for the offence on Thursday after he spent the equivalent of nearly two months in custody, according to Mr Halleron.

In mitigation, Mr Halleron explained that, before his previous conviction on April 4, McCann had no record, and the offending arose from his inability to ‘accept that the relationship was over’.

It was further explained that the defendant’s mother was terminally ill, and that McCann was ‘wasting his time in custody’ when he should be spending time with his mother.

Mr Halleron added that that while it was ‘entirely the defendant’s fault’ that he is in custody, the victim resides in Strabane, where he has no reason to be in.

However, judge Mullan said that this was ‘concerning’ that McCann breached the restraining order days after it was imposed.

Two months of the original suspended sentence was activated alongside a further three months for the new offence – imprisoning McCann for five months consecutively.