Carryduff man attacked and harrassed ex-work friend

Carryduff man attacked and harrassed ex-work friend

12 October 2016

A CARRYDUFF man who assaulted a former work colleague following a period of harassment will be sentenced tomorrow.

Twenty one year-old Gareth Silcock, of Killynure Road, admitted at Downpatrick Crown Court on Thursday inflicting grievous bodily harm on the other man on November 6 last year.

The court heard that the two men became friends while working together at a supermarket. But their friendship ended after a drunken night out when Silcock accused the other man of inappropriately touching him.

The injured party, who is married, said he had no memory of anything happening between them and said he had been so drunk on the night in question he felt sick.

The court heard that Silcock approached the injured party in their workplace and accused him of being a pervert, while one of Silcock’s associates warned “you better have eyes in the back of your head you pervert.”

The man’s wife also took a call from somebody accusing her husband of being a pervert, prompting the man to send a text to Silcock pleading with him to stop the harassment.

“Please stop all this,” he wrote. “Please find it in your heart to stop all this.”

However, on October 4 last year, Silcock once again told the injured party “you are never going to live this down” and a month later, on November 6, he turned up at his home and assaulted him, while a friend filmed the incident on a mobile phone.

The court heard the injured party sustained a broken jaw and cheekbone in the attack and continues to fear the defendant

A prosecutor told the court that Silcock had accepted the “back- of harassment” in the case by agreeing to a restraining order forbidding him from contacting the injured party or his wife.

She said the case was aggravated by the fact the injured party had lost his job as a result of the harassment and had also suffered emotionally from the defendant’s behaviour.

However, a defence barrister described the indent as a “fall from grace” by the defendant who had a previously clear record but had on this occasion seen “a red mist.”

Judge Piers Grant deferred sentencing until tomorrow after remarking upon the defendant’s apparent lack of remorse.

While Silcock had expressed regret for the impact of the assault on his own family in a pre-sentence report, Judge Grant said he did not express any sorrow about the impact this behaviour had on the injured party and his wife.

“Why is there a complete absence of, ‘I am sorry for what I have done to this man?’” the judge asked.

Following a recess, the defence said the defendant was indeed sorry. He will be sentenced tomorrow.