Assault accused remanded in custody

Gerard Terrence Given, of Circular Road, is charged with assaulting his mother and threatening to kill her on June 30.

The 25-year-old was released on bail to an address in Omagh and was banned from entering the city.

Derry Magistrate’s Court heard Given’s sister contacted police earlier this week to report that he was in her Waterside home and she was scared.

The defendant was arrested and was ‘quite brazen’ when he asked to phone his mother from the custody suite.

An investigating officer said this caused police ‘great concern’ as there was a ‘significant domestic history’.

He added Given’s mother was determined to proceed with the prosecution but has made withdrawal statements in the past.

Defence solicitor Paddy MacDermott told the court his client came into the city to collect clothes from his sister’s house and only phoned his mother to get a contact number for someone else.

District Judge Barney McElholm said in his opinion the phone call was about ‘control’.

‘It’s a way of saying I’m in police custody and I can still contact you. Who is in control, I am’.

The judge revoked bail stating that ‘I am in control in this courtroom’.

Given was remanded in custody until September 8.