A GRANDMOTHER who threatened a man in an attempt to prevent him from pressing charges against her ex-boyfriend has admitted intimidating a witness.
Michaela Stephenson called Nana Manu 16 times and said “You don’t know what I can do” whilst he pursued charges against her ex-partner Linford.
Colchester Magistrates’ Court heard how Linford walked in on Ms Stephenson and Mr Manu at her address, resulting in Linford assaulting Mr Manu.
Mr Manu then pressed charges against Linford for the assault, but Ms Stephenson intimidated Mr Manu in an attempt to stop him pursuing legal action by changing the SIM card in her phone and bombarding him with phone calls from a withheld number.
During the phone calls, she said: “You have missed up my life, you don’t know what I can do, you are pressing charges, you are lying to me.”
The prosecution said that after Mr Manu stopped answering her calls, Ms Stephenson turned up his address “with her daughter in tow”.
When Mr Manu answered the door, Ms Stephenson entered the address, found his phone and wiped its data.
In a victim impact statement, Mr Manu said he lost photos he had of him and his ex-partner before she died from cancer.
Zoe Hosking, mitigating, said Stephenson, 49, had been “love bombed” by Mr Manu after they had separated.
She said: “It’s been a very intense affair.
“There was a lot of love bombing.
“A lot of messages from the victim were flirtatious and involved him saying he was the king of a tribe in Africa, and if they were to move to Africa she would be the queen of the tribe.
“There was a lot of manipulation.”
Chair of the Bench Kati Greenwood said magistrates had to take into account Ms Stephenson’s mental health issues and the fact she was voluntarily addressing her alcohol problem.
Stephenson was sentenced to an 18-month community order which will involve 250 hours of unpaid work and 30 rehabilitation requirement days.
A restraining order was also imposed preventing Stephenson from contacting Mr Manu in any form for 18 months.
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