The Enniskillen Courthouse
A FATHER-of-two from Newtownbutler rang his ex-partner 74 times in ten hours because he wanted to change a computer password, it has been claimed.
The phone calls made by 42-year-old Stephen Kavanagh were so persistent that some were made just ten seconds apart, Fermanagh court has heard.
Kavanagh, of Golan Road, the Kocks, admitting ringing his ex-partner of two years to her home, work and mobile phone throughout the ten-hour period.
Explaining the reason behind the excessive phone calls, Kavanagh claimed the calls may have been accidentally triggered on his new touch-screen phone which was in his pocket and that he needed to change a computer password.
A prosecutor told the court that on August 24, police received a report from the injured party saying that her ex-partner was making telephone calls to her home, mobile and work phone number.
A statement was taken from Irene Kavanagh who said that she received in excess of 50 calls from the accused, many of which went unanswered.
Despite the defendant then withholding his number hours later, she refused to answer his calls.
The court heard that a number of enquiries were carried out and two evidential reports were produced which confirmed that Kavanagh owned the phone which made the withheld calls.
The report also confirmed that over a ten-hour period, Kavanagh rang his ex-partner 74 times and the calls were so persistent that they were made a little as ten seconds apart.
Kavanagh claimed that he did not count the number of calls made thinking they had amounted to just ten or 15.
He told police officers that he had bought a new touch-screen phone and claimed that it was making calls when the phone was in his trouser pocket.
However, this was disputed by police who said it was not possible as the calls were made so close to each other.
The court heard that one of the reasons behind the persistent phone calls was because of children contact issues as the pair have to make contact to arrange when they will meet.
The defence solicitor explained that Kavanagh had never been before the court in this type of situation and was embarrassed by his actions for which he wanted to apologise.
The solicitor added: “He was trying to change a password on a computer but he had bad signal on his phone and admits the calls may have been excessive.
“Since this incident there has been nothing further.”
District Judge Nigel Broderick told Kavanagh that despite the persistent phone calls, they were confined to one day but warned the accused if they had been over a number of days he would be dealing with the charge differently.
Kavanagh was fined £250 and ordered to pay compensation of £250 to the injured party.
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