Derry woman receives suspended sentence for homophibic harassment

A woman who was convicted of harassing a man by going to his workplace and making homophibic allegations against him has been given a suspended sentence at Derry Magistrate's Court on Friday.

Catherine Gilmour (67) of Clon Dara in Derry faced one charge of harassment against the man on dates between November 1 2020 and January 31 2021.

The court heard that police were called to a report of harassment by Gilmour.

The man claimed she kept coming to his workplace and slandered him in front of work colleagues.

She made comments such as 'queer boy' to him and contacted colleagues of his company and made allegations against him.

Gilmour also threatened 'she would get boys down to sort him out'.

A defence barrister said his client was'a vulnerable woman' with a limited record.

He described the incident as 'unsavoury'.

District Judge Barney McElholm said that this was an 'extremely serious matter.' and added if she had any sort of record she would be going straight to prison.

He imposed a sentence of 6 months in prison suspended for three years and a Restraining Order for a period of 5 years which prohibits her from contacting the injured party or going near his workplace.