Convicted paedophile jailed for attacking photographer in Omagh

A CONVICTED paedophile has been jailed for nine months after assaulting a press photographer.

Gareth Kitchener (38), whose address cannot be revealed due to a reporting restriction, was jailed after contesting the charges at a previous hearing at Omagh Magistrates Court.

The court heard that, on August 8 last year, the victim was outside of Omagh Courthouse on an assignment to capture a photo of Kitchener that day.

The photographer told the court that he had stood outside for an hour as Kitchener moved between court doors and went to move his car before his ticket expired.

However, when he parked again on John Street, the defendant had left the court and the photographer crossed the road to get a photo of the convicted paedophile.

shoved

The victim said he was shoved by Kitchener onto the road in front of traffic, causing injury to his back and elbow.

He said that his camera was ‘totally smashed’ and that his lens hood was damaged.

However Kitchener denied the assault, claiming he ‘didn’t see’ or feel any contact with the photographer.

Afterwards, a police detective told the court that in relation to the Sexual Offence Prevention Order (SOPO) breach, officers checked Kitchener’s bail address on August 13 at 12.50am.

It was noted that the blinds were open in the windows and that a spiderweb on the front door had been untouched in days.

However the defendant said he would only return to his home around 2am because he feared being attacked during the day.

District Judge Magill found Kitchener guilty of all charges and on April 8 a pre-sentence report was provided to the court.

Defence counsel Nadine Knight said that whilst Kitchener contested the charges, he was ‘remorseful’ of the injuries caused to the photographer.

She added that the 38-year-old had been in custody since January and suggested that a community-based order could be imposed for the offences.

Judge Magill sighted Kitchener’s previous 56 convictions, which included sexual assault in 2022 for which he was jailed for four months and given a SOPO.

broken camera

Noting the loss of credit from pleading not guilty and the lack of ability to pay compensation for the broken camera, Judge Magill said that custody was ‘the only appropriate sentence’.

Kicthener was jailed for nine months in total for the three offences.

Meanwhile, yesterday (Wednesday) morning at Limavady Magistrates Court Kitchener was jailed for a further three months, concurrent to the Omagh sentencing.

At Limavady court, Kitchener faced three sets of charges which included two breaches of the SOPO, resisting police and a theft of a G4S electronic tag on dates between January 21 and January 29.

Ms Knight explained that the breaches of the SOPO relate to Kitchener’s bail address being published on social media and the defendant fled ‘for his own safety’.

However he handed himself into the local police station the next day when the missing tag, which was never recovered, was noticed.

District Judge Peter King sentenced Kitchener to three months on all offences, concurrent with the sentence imposed at Omagh.