A MAN who created a fake persona and harassed a woman has been spared an immediate prison sentence.

Lewis Aaron Marais was issued with a restraining order, which included a requirement not to create or use any social media profile on any platform other than in this own name or the name Lewis Roberts.

Marais was alleged to have pursued a course of conduct which amounted to the harassment of the woman in that between May 8 and June 24 last year he created a fake persona and messaged her using a fake name on WhatsApp.

The 32-year-old defendant, whose address was given as Fisherman’s Avenue, Bournemouth, appeared in the dock at Poole Magistrates’ Court for sentencing on Wednesday, April 13, having previous pleaded guilty to an offence of harassment and breach of a suspended sentence order.

Deputy District Judge Jodie Mittell sentenced Marais to 26 weeks' imprisonment, suspended for two years.

The offence was deemed to have crossed the custody threshold due to the high degree of planning, prolonged contact and high degree of distress caused, court papers said.

Marais was ordered to take part in a 42-day Building Better Relationships programme as well as up to 20 days of rehabilitation activity requirement.

Alongside the social media profile name requirement, the five-year restraining order included an order not to contact the victim and a named man directly or indirectly.

The defendant was also ordered to pay a £128 surcharge, £85 costs and a £500 fine for breaching the existing suspended sentence, which was made in August 2020 for an offence of causing a computer to perform a function to enable unauthorised access to a program or data.

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