Accused gets his wish — charge withdrawn

Having argued last week for his one pending criminal charge to be dropped so he could be released from custody, Ryan Farrell was a free man Thursday.

Farrell, 31, was sentenced on Aug. 15 to 60 days behind bars for assaulting his former landlord with a hammer, uttering threats, damaging the landlord’s phone cord and three breaches of court orders, after the pair got into a heated argument last month. With credit given for the time he had already served in custody, Farrell had only six days left to serve.

However, he was kept behind bars since he had another unrelated case still before the courts.

Farrell had been scheduled to go to trial that same day on a charge of criminally harassing a woman via online messages, in which he had allegedly threatened to break her jaw and kill her. Farrell maintained he was innocent and the woman didn’t show up to court to testify.

Farrell argued for the charge to be dropped, but Judge Mike Madden opted to give the woman another chance, since there was no indication if she had chosen not to testify or if she had been unable to make it to court.

“I’m going to end up serving time on a charge I didn’t do and that’s probably going to be thrown out,” said Farrell, who was representing himself at trial. “It should have been thrown out here today. I think there should be some sort of repercussions, I should get something thrown my way for having to stay in jail for a charge I didn’t do.

“There’s a story for you, my love,” he added, turning towards The Telegram’s reporter. “Print that. You have my permission.”

The case was set to be called again next month, but was back before the courts early. The Crown indicated it would be withdrawing the charge after speaking with police. It’s believed the woman was no longer interested in pursuing the matter.

In May, Farrell was acquitted of assault charges after the victim in that case, who had been stabbed, also failed to show up at court to testify.