Keith McMullan, of Fortview Park, appeared at Enniskillen Magistrates Court accused of common assault, threats to kill and harrassment against Ann Durand, a woman, whom he told the court he had a sexual relationship with for a year back in 2012, before he ended it. The charges were dismissed by district judge Nigel Broderick.

 

The incident referred to in the charges occurred on November 25, 2014. Mr McMulan said he had gone to collect a pizza for his two daughters in Kesh  when he was followed by Ann Durand in her vehicle into the park where he lives. 

He told the court she pulled in her vehicle right behind his and that he got out telling her to leave him alone and that he wanted the messages and phonecalls from her to stop. 

 

The defendant said that before leaving park Durand wound down her window and shouted: “I’m going to tell your f****** wife”. The defendant then went to Durand’s house to try to get her to leave his family alone. He said when he arrived the door was locked and when he went to leave the door opened and Durand threw a stone which hit the back panel of his car. He then ran to the back door and managed to put his foot in it before she could lock it. 

 

He admitted that he grabbed Durand to restrain her, but denied claims from the defendant that he threatened to kill her and that he assaulted her by pushing her up against an outside wall of the house and grabbing her by the throat. The defendant then said a friend of the injured party, Alistair Virtue, came in and pushed him into kitchen units in the house before restraining him. While being restrained he alleged that he was struck ‘four or five times’ with a metal kitchen roll holder by Durand.

Giving evidence in court Ms Durand, a married woman from Kesh, who runs a salon in Beragh, denied any affair, but said there had been messages “to and fro” between the pair.

On the night in question she alleged she had been delivering a recipe to Mr Virtue, who lived in the same park as the defendant and that she was on the phone to him during the first incident in the car and then again when Mr McMullan arrived at her house. She claimed the phone had remained connected during the struggle and this was why Mr Virtue had arrived.

Despite evidence of the two having exchanged naked photos in messages, an email sent from her account to the defendant accusing him of giving her an STD, she denied the two had an affair. 

 

 However, she admitted there had been messages between the pair and said the defendant had once kissed her, but she had pushed him away. She claimed McMullan confided in her about marital problems and that he ‘wanted something more’.

 

Defence barrister Joseph McCann cited messages from Durand, which read: ‘Your wife is welcome to you’ and ‘one heck of a good snogger’ as evidence of an affair, but Durand said she didn’t recall sending these messages and that she never ‘snogged’ the defendant. 

The defence also asked whether she had created fake Facebook profiles to harrass the defendant, rang him from a withheld number and sent letters to McMullan, his wife and mother-in-law after the alleged affair ended. She denied these allegations. 

 

Giving evidence, Mr Virtue told the court he heard the defendant on the phone threaten to kill Durand and then made his way to her house. The defence asked the witness if he knew the pair were having an affair and he said he had heard rumours, but that he didn’t believe it. The barrister called it a “strange coincidence” that Virtue was on the phone to the injured party on both occasions.

District judge Nigel Broderick said that he felt Durand was somewhat equivocal when confronted with details of evidence and did not accept her account that there was not a high level of contact between the parties. 

 

The judge was also not satsified with the account given by Mr Virtue, stating he didn’t believe his evidence in relation to hearing the incident on the phone. 

 

Mr Broderick accepted there had been a physical confrontation, with injuries on both sides, but questioned the credibility of the injured party and did not accept her account as described. He gave the benefit of the doubt to the defendant and dismissed the charges.