Spared jail for racist attacks on neighbours

AN Omagh man has avoided going to jail despite carrying out a ‘terrifying racist campaign’ on his neighbours that led to a woman jumping from a bedroom window with a child in her arms.

Sean Small, 52, of Culmore Park, agreed to a three-year Probation Order, and to carry out 70 hours community service work when he was sentenced at Dungannon Crown Court on Tuesday.

He was convicted of assault on a male and female couple; inflicting grievous bodily harm on the female, causing criminal damage to a door, possession of an offensive weapon, namely a wooden table leg and making threats to kill.

At the time of the attacks in September 2019 and February 2020, Small resided at St Patrick’s Terrace in Omagh. He had a significant relevant previous record with 41 convictions.

Judge Sherrard QC said it would be a ‘retrograde step’ to send Small to prison, and suggested the combination order would benefit the community as a whole.

A previous court hearing was told that during the attack on the night of February 1, 2020, Small hammered on the rear and front doors of the couple’s property, attacked the male victim, hurled threats and abuse, and put the female occupant in such fear that she leapt out a bedroom window, clutching her three-year-old son. She sustained a fracture to her pelvis. She told police that Small shouted, “Today, I will kill you”.

It was also reported he shouted, “I don’t like Pakistanis, and I don’t like Slovakians. I’m Irish. I’m a strong boy. I can do anything.”

He was swinging a wooden table leg, and as he tried to force his way inside his neighbours’ home. The couple who lived in the house were from the Ukraine and Pakistan.

He also assaulted the couple four months previously on September 19, 2019. A court was told, during that incident, Small shouted, “I will burn your family out. Go back to your own country.”

Sentencing was deferred six months ago and defence lawyer Seamus McNeill (SC), instructed by solicitor Conor Sally, said Small had ‘grasped the opportunity with both hands by doing everything the court had asked of him in addressing his alcohol and mental health issues’. He added that the defendant now attends Alcoholics Anonymous. He has also been decorating a neighbour’s home, and has been offered employment, depending on the outcome of the court hearing. Mr McNeill stated that Small has addressed his difficulties in a ‘very positive way’.

Addressing the defendant, Judge Sherrard said, “The central issues for you seem to relate to your alcohol abuse, mental health and previous trauma.

“You seem to have used the brief time to demonstrate you could engage with the necessary services and stay out of trouble.”

Small was told he would have been facing a jail term of ‘two-to- three years’ had he not abided by the structures in place when sentencing was deferred.

Judge Sherrard added, “There ought to be no ambiguity; those who come before the court for the offences you have committed should be imprisoned. It seems it would be a retrograde step to send you to prison, given the work you have done. It is very important you recognise any fall from grace will have you back before me and my hands will be tied.”

Addressing the defence and prosecution lawyers, the judge concluded, “It appears to be the best outcome not just for Mr Small, but for everyone concerned, and our community as a whole.”