A MAN who was found staying in Belleek’s public toilets while on a fishing trip has been acquitted of damaging the toilets by lighting a fire in them.

Thomas Nann (29) of Gortfin Street, Belfast, was charged with criminal damage and possession of Class B drugs, namely cannabis, after the incident in the village on December 7 last. Nann pleaded guilty to the drugs charge, but contested the criminal damage charge at Enniskillen Magistrates Court on Monday. He was not present for the hearing, however, as he had been told at the weekend by the PSNI that a threat had been made on his life.

On the night of December 7 police were called to the public toilets by a staff member of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council. The officers had been called after the Council worker had gone to the toilets at around 9.30pm to lock up for the night, and found Nann in the toilets. He also noticed one of the toilets had been damaged, with burn marks indicating a fire had been lit in it, and a tile had been removed from the wall. The damage was estimated to cost around £200. The council worker, who had checked the toilets earlier and had not noticed any damage, told police when he went in he could smell tobacco smoke, and Nann was sitting on a stool. He said there was newspaper on the sink and bits of tobacco lying around. Nann, who had a fishing rod with him, told the man he was intending on staying in the toilets for shelter and was in the area on a fishing trip.

Nann, who had been drinking, was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and when searched police found a bag of cannabis, a joint, and a coke can on him. He admitted to having the cannabis, and told police he had been drying his clothes on the hand dryer, and had been in the toilets as he was freezing outside. The defendant also told the police he had made a cannabis joint but “hadn’t even got to smoke it” as they had arrived.

Nann, who had fire-lighters with him, denied lighting a fire in the toilet, telling the officers he had lit a fire in a nearby laneway earlier from twigs and branches. He told them he brought fire-lighters with him wherever he went. He said he didn’t know what had happened the toilets, adding a man in a black car had been in the toilets earlier.

Defence barrister Stephen Fitzpatrick said Nann had “no case to answer” regarding the criminal damage as there was no evidence he had damaged the toilet and tiles. He said, aside from Nann being in the toilets, everything else was “speculation and conjecture” as there had been eight hours between when the council worker had last checked the toilets and when he discovered the criminal damage.

District Judge Nigel Broderick said while it was suspicious, there was not enough evidence to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Nann had caused the damaged, and dismissed the charge against him.

For possession of cannabis, Judge Broderick fined Nann, who he said had “a very limited record,” £300.