AN Islander found to have twice breached a restraining order put in place to protect a woman he had previously harassed and assaulted has been bound over for 12 months to be of good behaviour.
Zachariah Fee (51) sent a friend request to the complainant on Instagram despite being subject to a court order preventing any form of contact with her, the Magistrate’s Court heard.
Fee was initially handed the restraining order – put in effect for 10 years – on 9 February 2016 after being sentenced for harassing and assaulting a female victim.
Legal advisor Kerry Grieve, prosecuting, said that the complainant reported receiving a “friend request on Instagram” from her attacker on 1 February 2026.
After notifying police, she then reported a previous breach in July 2024 during which the defendant “approached” her in St Helier town centre after a “verbal altercation”.
Fee later “accepted he was present” for the 2024 breach in what was described in court as a “chance encounter”.
But he insisted he “did not recall sending a friend request” on Instagram and told police he might have accidentally added the complainant via suggested friends.
“[He said] he would have tried to cancel it or block it and that if his intention was to contact her he would have sent her a message”, Ms Grieve explained.
Advocate Adam Harrison, defending, noted the “seriousness with which the court treats breaches of restraining order” but added that his client had been “going through a difficult time in his personal life” at the time of the offending.
“He was in a low mood at the time and perhaps unusually vulnerable”, he explained.
Relief Magistrate David Le Cornu said the breaches were of a “relatively minor nature” and proposed to bind Fee over for 12 months on good behaviour.
“Should you commit any further offences during that period you will be brought back to the court, who may take a different view”, he concluded.
