A HARASSMENT victim said he felt “tortured” at the hands of a homophobic and racist neighbour from hell.
Derry O’Sullivan said he made reports to the police 20 times over the course of a year against Adrian Wolfe in Brighton.
The 61-year-old former guest house owner said the abuse started when he reported Wolfe to the council over vehicles blocking footpaths around Queensway near the racecourse.
It led to homophobic slurs and comments about him being Irish, and Mr O’Sullivan said on one occasion Wolfe had driven a car towards him on a footpath.
At Brighton Magistrates’ Court, Wolfe was convicted of harassment between June and July last year.
Wolfe, 73, was put under a restraining order not to approach Mr O’Sullivan or enter his street address, and the order is indefinite.
Mr O’Sullivan said other residents have also complained about 73-year-old Wolfe.
The Argus has seen documents which show there is an injunction which prevents the abuser from “engaging in behaviour which is likely to cause nuisance, annoyance, alarm or distress” to residents in the area.
Mr O’Sullivan said he has lived in Belfast and Dublin, and said it was sad that the first time he had been a victim of homophobic and racist abuse was while living in Brighton.
He said: “I take pride in where I live, but this man has absolutely tortured me and made me feel afraid.
“I had life-changing surgery for bowel and bladder cancer a few years ago. The last thing I needed was a lunatic horrible person harassing me.
“He would stop his car in the middle of the street to shout at me. He was constantly coming after me.
“In this day and age it’s unacceptable. There were the days of ‘no blacks, no Irish, no dogs’, but those days have long gone, but that’s the way he thinks. He doesn’t care about his neighbours.”
Court documents show Wolfe, of Queensway, Brighton, had “pursued a course of conduct which amounted to the harassment of Derry O’Sullivan”.
The documents state “you followed him in your car, shouted at him, approached him at his house and shouted racial and homophobic abuse at him”.
In judgement, the court found the offence was “aggravated due to hostility based on the sexual orientation (or presumed sexual orientation) of the victim”.
Wolfe was ordered to complete 20 rehabilitation sessions and to pay £200 in compensation to Mr O’Sullivan.
He must also pay a £170 fine, a £95 surcharge and £300 court costs for a late guilty plea to the harassment charge.
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