Ex-soldier’s prison warning following neighbour abuse

A FORMER soldier has been warned he faces prison if he continues to harass and abuse his neighbours.

Stephen McAuliffe has a history of abusive behaviour towards the couple next door, including making sexual comments and telling his male neighbour he would shoot him.

Swansea Crown Court heard McAuliffe’s most recent outburst put him in breach of a restraining order designed to give his victims some protection.

Hannah George, prosecuting, said the order had been put in place in April last year because of the behaviour of the 54-yearold year old from Llanelli - this behaviour had included threatening to shoot his neighbour.

In the October of that year McAuliffe had breached the restraining order by, among other things, making derogatory comments about his neighbour, and telling him to “go back home” to Italy.

Then in March of this year the defendant was convicted of harassment in relation to the same neighbours, and was made the subject of a new restraining order

The court heard he breached that order with a series of incidents on May 31 and June 1 when he had stared at the couple in their garden through gaps in the fence, sung songs with obscene lyrics, “shouted continually for an hour” at them, made comments about genitals, and told his neighbour: “I killed people like you in the Falklands.”

He was arrested over these matters on June 12.

McAuliffe, of Tunnel Road, Llanelli, had previously pleaded guilty to two breaches of a restraining order when he appeared in the dock via videolink for sentencing. The court heard he has five previous convictions for seven offences, but none in the last three decades.

Tom Scapens, for McAuliffe, said the defendant had served in the armed forces and gone on to be an “industrious and productive” member of society.

He said he had lived at the address in question for some seven years without problem, and had regularly helped elderly people living locally with odd jobs and shopping.

The barrister said that to put the behaviour of the last 12 months into “context”, the neighbours with whom McAuliffe had fallen out were musicians who were part of a band and played loud music at home.

Judge Catherine Richards said hopefully the period the defendant had spent on remand in custody had given him time to reflect on his future conduct.

Giving McAuliffe a onethird discount for his guilty plea, she sentenced him to eight months in prison suspended for 18 months, and ordered him to complete a rehabilitation course, an alcohol treatment requirement, and a thinking skills programme.

Her Honour warned the defendant that if he were to breach the restraining order again, he would be brought back to court and the suspended prison sentence would be activated.