Lurgan man Kian Withers claimed he did not intend to offend over sharing Natalie McNally image
A Lurgan man who posted a "grossly offensive" animated image of murder victim Natalie McNally under a public Facebook appeal to help find her killer did it to "lighten the mood,” a court has been told. While the clip was viewed by Judge Patrick Lynch KC, he watched in Chambers after prosecuting counsel Nicola Auret described it as “grossly offensive". At an earlier hearing of Craigavon Crown Court Kian Withers, from James Street, admitted a single count of committing an act outraging public decency.
Opening the facts of the Crown care for the first time, Ms Auret outlined how the 22-year-old was arrested after police received a complaint from Ms McNally's cousin regarding a Facebook comment from an account named 'John John'. This comment had been shared under a Cool FM post, which was a police appeal seeking help from members of the public in identifying a male in a CCTV clip, as they tried to track down the Lurgan woman's killer. The image posted had been created on an app which used the publicly available image of Ms McNally in her graduation gown. “It was animated and appeared to sing to the tune of James Brown's 'I got you (I feel good)',” said Ms Auret adding that it had been shared on three different Facebook posts between December 23 -28, 2022. Ms McNally was murdered on December 18. Ms Auret continued: "Several members of the public berated the defendant for the post but he didn't take it down." Withers was subsequently identified by police and during police interviews, he made full admissions to creating the image and posting it online to the Cool FM and News sports site. “He maintained that his intent was to try and lighten the mood around the murder of the deceased, not to cause upset, however he now realised how his actions may have caused distress,” said Crown counsel.
“He told police that he was different to other people with a different sense of humour and had no social skills and he expressed regret for his actions." Defence counsel Ian Turkington told the court Withers had instructed him to express how "sorry he was for causing distress to the family and friends of the deceased". Mr Turkington highlighted how "damaged and disabled Mr Withers is and how he presents before this court because it's only to understand his vulnerability can one understand how he could be so foolish to post the image that was posted". Withers was described as a young man who "lives a solitary life with no close relationships", and is someone "incapable of independent living, yet socially isolated", adding that he had suffered "prolonged serious, physical and emotional abuse as a child at the hands of his father". He contended that Withers "left school at 14 [and] was mercilessly bullied at school". The court also heard that the defendant has been diagnosed with an emotionally unstable personality disorder and that he was suffering from "deteriorating mental health at the time of the offending" in that his medication regime had been changed “and he hadn't been taking it. A doctor's report described Withers "as a disabled young man [who has] effectively developed a life of virtual living". He added: "He genuinely believed, quite incredibly, that what he was doing was lightening the mood...his brain just doesn't work the same as other people." Freeing Withers on bail, Judge Lynch said he would pass sentence on Friday.
Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know.