A MAN who received 115 antagonising phone calls in one day has appeared in court charged with threatening and abusing the man who called him.

Sean Gallagher made the calls to Joe Craig, who he had fallen out with following a row over a local football team.

Craig reacted and went into a rage after Gallagher’s constant pestering.

However, Gallagher recorded the calls and accused Craig of threatening him and using racial language.

Gallagher complained to gardai, who charged Craig with making calls of a threatening, insulting and racial nature.

Father-of-one Craig (39), of Ard O’Donnell, Letterkenny, Co Donegal, appeared before Letterkenny District Court.

Det Gda Darren Carter said that last October 7, Gallagher called Craig 115 times on the same day.

He also revealed that Gallagher had made calls to Craig on many other dates, adding that the communication was “very much one-way traffic”.

He handed in typed transcripts from two of the calls, which Judge Paul Kelly read in detail.

Det Gda Carter said Craig admitted he flipped out and that his comments came from frustration.

Although the specific detail of the comments was not revealed, Det Gda Carter said Gallagher’s wife is African and some of the comments were aimed at her.

Judge Kelly said he could understand why Craig may have reacted to Gallagher, but he should not have directed any comments towards his wife.

Det Gda Carter said he had ordered both men not to contact each other, having served them both with anti-social behaviour orders, and it appeared they had heeded him.

He added that he accepted Craig’s buttons “had been pressed” and he knew he should not have reacted.

Craig’s solicitor, Kieran Dillon, said there was a lot of provocation on behalf of Gallagher in that he made 115 calls to his client in one day.

Judge Kelly said he was ordering Craig to keep the peace.

“In view of the background outlined comprehensively by Gda Carter and in no small part in Gda Carter’s view that it is at an end, I will deal with a peace bond,” he said.

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