Man pleads guilty to '˜flashing' type offence

A court also heard there were boys as young as eleven in the area at the time.

Michael Mark (52) of Hazelwood Terrace, in Craigywarren near Ballymena, appeared at the town’s Magistrates Court on Thursday where he admitted a charge of indecent exposure. He committed the offence at Currells Avenue on the banks of the River Braid at 4.50pm on Monday August 22 this year.

The charge was that he intentionally exposed his genitals intending that a male and female would see them and be caused alarm or distress.

Originally the case had been listed as a contest but he pleaded guilty to the exposure charge after a second charge of indecent behaviour in a public place was dropped.

A prosecutor said two members of the public, a husband and wife, were out walking their dog at Currells Avenue which she described as a public nature walkway, when they saw a man standing with his trousers down below his knees performing a sex act upon himself.

The prosecutor said there were other people in the area at the time including boys thought to have been as young as eleven years old.

Police were called and caught Mark and when interviewed he said he was on his holidays and had cycled to the scene and stopped for a drink and a smoke and denied he had exposed himself.

However at court he entered a guilty plea. Defence barrister Stephen Law said his client had a clear record.

District Judge Peter King adjourned sentencing until December and wants reports prepared in the case before Mark comes back to court.