Prominent loyalist in court accused of inciting hatred

The judge refused bail for David Stitt

A 53-year-old man has appeared at Belfast Magistrates' Court charged with distributing written material to incite hatred.

Prominent loyalist David Stitt, with an address in Lord Warden’s Court in Bangor, is charged with distributing written material which was threatening, abusive and insulting and intending to stir up hatred or arouse fear.

The court was told that the defendant posted on his Facebook account calling for people to attend gatherings in relation to anti-immigration protests in Belfast.

The post was a reshare of another post calling for people to attend gatherings.

According to police, there have now been 43 people arrested and 34 charged in relation to disorder in Belfast in recent weeks.

The court was told that Mr Stitt had asked his followers to “please share far and wide – this is about our families, the police are powerless – and that the aim is to bring the place to a standstill”.

The defence asked the judge to consider that others also shared the post and that Mr Stitt had been charged with re-sharing a post about a protest, not violence.

Mr Stitt's lawyer said that those charged in court to date had been involved in violence and this post was well below that.

He added that he felt there was no connection between Mr Stitt’s post and any violence in Belfast.

The defence said that this was a copy and paste job "with a bit added on", adding that Mr Stitt had fully co-operated with police, has not made any posts since and was not at any of the protests himself.

The defence also argued that citizens have a lawful right to protest.

Bail refused

Police told the court that they opposed bail for Mr Stitt as the post was related to the attacks.

The court heard detectives said the violence has not gone away and they would have concerns that Mr Stitt would continue to commit further offences through social media.

The defence argued that in the 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement, Mr Stitt has been working in a cross-community capacity and that on the 12 July this year he worked with senior police officers to remove tri-colours from the bonfires in North Down to help community relations.

However, the judge refused bail due to the risk of re-offending and the risk to the public.

The case is due to be heard again on 20 September.