Drunk naked man shouted and swore in front of people and attempted to assault members of the public
A court has heard how a drunk naked man shouted and swore in front of people, including children, and attempted to assault members of the public in Antrim town.
Details were given to Antrim Magistrates' Court sitting in Ballymena, regarding Stephen Lee Thompson (39), of Hillside in Antrim town, who pleaded guilty to charges of exposing his private parts, disorderly behaviour at Station Road in Antrim and two assaults on Wednesday May 7 this year.
Around 8pm police received reports of a "naked male attempting to assault members of the public".
A prosecutor said during the incidents the defendant "became completely naked. At the start he was wearing trousers but no top but later on he actually removed the bottom half".
Police saw the defendant on Station Road "screaming and shouting and swearing in an aggressive manner in front of young children and members of the public".
The defendant was "completely naked in an intoxicated state".
A man said that earlier he was walking out of Antrim Bus Station towards his home when the defendant ran behind him and swung his arm around his neck and shoulders "in an aggressive manner".
A woman was driving at Station Road and asked the man if he was ok. Thompson ran up to her car window "with his arms out to the side in a confrontational manner" and put her in fear of assault.
The woman was able to drive off with the male and two other members of the public who got into the car as they feared for their safety due to the defendant's behaviour.
The defendant was standing in the middle of the road with no t-shirt on and holding a plant pot. He then took the bottom half of his clothes off, the prosecutor said.
When interviewed the defendant said he was highly intoxicated and accepted his behaviour had been "horrendous" and wished to apologise.
On Tuesday May 20 this year Thompson admitted assaulting a 15-year-old girl whom he headbutted. At 8.30pm police received a report of a male having assaulted the teenager at High Street in Antrim.
The girl told police she had been headbutted by an unknown male after she "confronted him for talking inappropriately to young girls in the area".
Police observed bruising and swelling to the girl's eye and she was upset.
Officers spoke to the defendant outside a bar. The defendant told police he had reacted because the girl was "videoing him".
The defendant had 113 previous convictions in Northern Ireland and also had a record in England.
A defence barrister told an earlier court the defendant had post traumatic stress disorder after "witnessing people being murdered in front of him".
The defendant had gone to Liverpool to "try and break the cycle" of offending, it was said. The barrister said Thompson returned home in February to look after his 83-year-old grandmother.
At Tuesday's court the defence lawyer said the incidents were "very serious". He said the defendant began using drugs at the age of 13 and developed a heroin addiction and for a time he had gone to England to "get away from negative peers".
The lawyer said the defendant's case regarding May 20 was that he was "provoked" after he was verbally abused by young people with terms like "paedophile".
District Judge Nigel Broderick said the offences were extremely serious. As well as a seven months prison sentence, the defendant was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders' Register for seven years in connection with the exposure charge.