A man has been convicted after sending a series of unprovoked “menacing” texts to his brother.
Mr Pritpaul Rana, 40, of 25 Broad Walk Road, Hounslow, pled guilty at Uxbridge magistrates court on Thursday morning to sending online messages of a “menacing character”, a crime under the Communications Act 2003.
Mr Taranjit Rai, crown prosecutor, told the court that Mr Rana sent the texts to his brother late at night on 5 August. The texts led his brother, living at 19 Blackberry Farm Close, Hounslow, to call the police twice over the course of the evening.
“Carry on doing your own little pathetic sideline, and wait till I smash you,” Mr Rana wrote to his brother shortly before midnight. “Come outside you side cunt [sic] if you’ve got balls. Be outside in 30 seconds.” The court heard that the two had had a “fairly good” relationship until 5 August.
Many of Mr Rana’s texts made little sense, leading his brother to suspect he was drunk.
At 2:50am, the complainant received another text that he took as a “direct threat”, reading: “You ever speak to me again like you did last night, you won’t be awake for 12 hours,” and, “I’d literally piss on you.”
Shortly afterwards, Mr Rana arrived at his brother’s house. Once there, he started banging on his brother’s window, kicking his car, and banging on his front door. The court heard the complainant became “extremely scared” and felt unsafe until the police arrived, as he feared Mr. Rana would break into the house.
The defence said that Mr Rana was “truly remorseful” and a “broken man” who had been disowned by his parents and recently gone through a “serious break-up” with his partner, separating him from his daughter. The court heard Mr Rana had a “love-hate relationship” with his brother, but that this was nonetheless a “one-off scenario” and that Mr Rana only drank alcohol occasionally.
Mr Rana will be sentenced later this week. Mr Rana was convicted by a three-magistrate panel made up of Ms S Jerath, Mrs M. Pound, and Ms A Rawal.
Alex Waygood 