A 19-year-old man has appeared in court after slurry was deliberately spread across several streets in Ballymena, County Antrim, during the early hours of Saturday, June 28, in what was an attempt to disrupt the first-ever Ballymena Pride parade.

Isaac Adams, of Lislaban Road in Cloughmills, was arrested and charged with criminal damage, possession of an article with a blade or point, and causing material to be deposited on a road. Appearing at Coleraine Magistrates’ Court on Monday, June 30, Adams admitted to spreading the manure ahead of the parade and attempted to excuse his actions as a “prank” done in protest of the LGBTQ+ event.

A detective sergeant told the court that officers encountered Adams in Ballymena town centre at approximately 2:45am on Saturday. He was wearing a balaclava and carrying two empty jugs that had contained slurry. Adams admitted he had distributed the manure to disrupt the Pride celebration later that day, and confirmed he had worn the balaclava to conceal his identity. He also claimed he was not acting alone.

The manure was reportedly taken from the Adams’ family farm and was hen waste. The court heard that Adams had no prior criminal record, was cooperative during police questioning, and is currently in full-time employment.

District Judge Peter King released Adams on bail of £500, but imposed a series of stringent conditions. These include a nightly curfew from 11pm to 5am, a ban on entering any area of Ballymena where the speed limit is 30mph, and a prohibition on possessing any device capable of internet access. The judge warned Adams that breaching these conditions would be treated seriously and should not be regarded as a further “prank”.

The court was told that the clean-up operation following the slurry incident cost £788. The case has been adjourned until July 24.

A second man, aged 20, was also arrested on suspicion of offences including criminal damage and aiding and abetting criminal damage. He has since been released on police bail and is expected to appear in court in November.

The incident has drawn strong condemnation from political figures and the wider community. Northern Ireland’s Justice Minister, Naomi Long, criticised the act as “disgusting in every sense of the word”, stating, “I despair at the mentality of those who would spread slurry on the streets of their town, motivated by hate and bigotry.”

It is important to note that despite the bigotry employed by some, the Ballymena Pride celebration went on as planned and was welcomed with support from many in the community, with organiser Curtis Lee taking to Instagram to celebrate: “For the last 10 months, I’ve been told not to go ahead with Mid & East Antrim Pride 2025. I held my nerve, because a tiny part of me always believed that we live amongst largely decent, accepting & hard working tolerant people. But I think yesterday took us all by surprise, when we turned up towards Wellington St (and the closer we got to the harmony hub) the volume of people was absolutely unreal. Ballymena, you did us all proud. This is the town I love, this is real community.”

 

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