Stacey Caddick, 33, was handed a 12-week jail sentence suspended for a year after harassing an innocent woman at a bus station in Caernarfon in March this year
An innocent woman was wrongly branded a “paedophile” and “nonce” in public after being cornered at a bus station.
Stacey Caddick, 33, appeared at Caernarfon Magistrate’s Court yesterday in relation to the verbal assault she launched against the victim – who she mistakenly believed had been taking photographs of children.
Caddick, of Bangor, was given a 16-week jail term suspended for 12 months after admitting harassment at court. She was spared jail was due to her role as a carer for her father, who suffers from dementia. It comes after a headteacher spotted a pupil stealing from school, but the explanation is heartbreaking.
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The incident, which happened on March 21 at Caernarfon bus station, was played out in court after the suspect filmed the incriminating tirade.
In the footage Caddick accused the victim of having taken photos of children. She called the woman a “paedophile” and a “nonce” as the woman denied the claims and told Caddick she was “telling lies”, reports North Wales Live.
Caddick was then heard threatening the woman telling her she would have “booted” her, if she wasn’t on the bus. Caddick also tells the woman she should “get back to her own country”.
The prosecutor Ms Williams today said it had been an “unpleasant” and “sustained” incident, adding: “She did not have the opportunity to escape”.
Ms Williams said no allegations about the woman have been made to police and that “nothing of that nature has occurred”.
Caddick pleaded guilty to using threatening, abusive or insulting words to cause harassment, alarm or distress.
Deborah Tennant-Davies, defending, said: “She (her client) was in Caernarfon about to board a Transport for Wales bus going towards Bangor. Whilst waiting she witnessed several children running around the corner” who appeared to be “upset”.
Caddick then started filming the victim (on her phone), who was nearby. Ms Tennant-Davies said Caddick confronted her victim and started the filming as a result of what the children said and as a result of a Facebook post.
Ms Tennant-Davies said: “I said (to Caddick) I understand where you are coming from but this is not the correct way of dealing with the situation. She (Caddick) said ‘I thought I was doing the right thing. I have gone about it in a very clumsy way.’ “
“She (Caddick) was very emotional about it. The solicitor added that the defendant helps to care for her father who is in the advanced stages of dementia. She helps to get him up, dressed and washed and the effects have had an impact on her own mental health.
“She is not coping well,” added Ms Tennant-Davies. Today the court heard Caddick had had a 12-month community order imposed in May after being convicted of two shoplifting offences but has “disengaged” from the probation service.
Her appointments are at 9am when she has to help her parent. She is on methadone as a former heroin addict, and admitted to taking cannabis which could be having an adverse effect on her mental health, the court heard.
Bench chairman Susan Jones told the defendant the harassment offence had been “sustained” and was committed in a public place, with children present.
Suspending the prison sentence, and revoking the community order, she ordered Caddick to do 20 days of rehabilitation activity. She also ordered Caddick to pay £100 compensation to her victim.