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Christopher James Baxter, 48, with an address listed as Magee Park in Larne but who told the court he lives at Ballymullock Road near Larne, had named a man in a series of Facebook posts between August 6-11 this year. The man Baxter had posted about watched on from the public gallery of the court where the defendant was in the dock. A prosecutor told Antrim Magistrates' Court, sitting in Ballymena today: "Just to state in open court the injured party does not have any criminal record". She said the messages were "completely malicious" and amounted to a course of conduct to "annoy and harass the injured party". She told the court Baxter had made "multiple" Facebook posts which "contained the victim's name" and "photos of the victim labelling him a paedophile and various other slurs suggesting he had a sexual attraction to children". Alternative charges - one of harassment and one of improper use of a communications network to send grossly offensive messages – were brought against the defendant. A defence barrister said his instructions from the defendant were to "agree the prosecution case". The lawyer said the defendant faced two charges "in respect of messages which he accepts he sent". The barrister asked the judge to make a determination on which charge to convict Baxter on. The defendant declined to take the stand to give evidence on his own behalf. District Judge Nigel Broderick said it was "quite clear" it had been harassment and convicted Baxter, who had a previous record, of that charge. He dismissed the second charge on the basis that it was a duplicate. The judge said: "To send these malicious posts and to use abusive language, I am entirely satisfied it amounts to harassment". The case was adjourned to December 11 for a pre-sentence report. An interim restraining order was put in place – the defendant is not to contact the man and is not to post anything on any social media platform referring to the victim.
