Prison warning to boxer over harassment of his ex-partner

Steven Donnelly was due to be sentenced for two breaches of a restraining order but when a judge heard the 34-year-old is due in court later this month accused of assault, he opted to adjourn until that trial was heard.

Freeing Donnelly on bail, District Judge Nigel Broderick warned the boxer: “I want to make it clear that you are in real danger of going to prison and how you conduct yourself between now and the sentencing is very important.

“I’m not giving you false hope but it should go without saying if you were to reoffend or breach bail, that will reduce your chances of a non-custodial sentence.”

With Donnelly standing in the dock of Ballymena Magistrates Court on Thursday, a prosecuting lawyer outlined how he had sent text messages to his former partner over four days in June last year, about wanting to end his life.

​Despite those suicidal thoughts Donnelly also asked if he could take their son on holiday, but the court was told his texts to his ex “made her afraid of what he would do”.

“They have been separated for two years and he was still contacting her,” said a lawyer.

On a second bill of indictment Donnelly, from Dunfane Park in Ballymena, is also accused of breaching the restraining order by contacting his ex “without reasonable excuse” on March 27 this year.

It was revealed that a two-year restraining order expires this October and prosecutors are now seeking an 18- month extension.

In the case due for hearing later this month, the former boxer is accused of causing actual bodily harm and common assault arising from an allegedly sectarian, drunken assault on a train between Coleraine and Ballymena on October 6 last year.