A Co Armagh strongman accused of domestic abuse has had his bail varied to take part in a contest in the Caribbean.
Sean O’Hagan was cleared to compete in the Strongman’s Champions League in Martinique following a defence application at Newry Crown Court last week.
The 34-year-old, from Old Court Manor in Craigavon, is charged with harassment, dangerous driving, assault, robbery, domestic abuse and criminal damage.
The crimes were allegedly committed on dates between June 10 and 15 last year.
O’Hagan is accused of damaging his former partner’s car and stealing her phone.
Court papers say that he engaged “in a course of behaviour that was abusive of a person to whom he was personally connected at the time, and the course of behaviour was such that a reasonable person would consider the course of behaviour to be likely to cause her to suffer physical or psychological harm”.
His strongman exploits will be shown on Amazon Prime this weekend as he competes against 10 other men in the Strongman Champions League.
The competition, in Fort-de-France on Martinique, could potentially see O’Hagan travel around the world to compete in Holland, Portugal, Serbia, Cyprus, England, Finland and South Africa before the final in November.
If he manages to top the league, he stands to win $350,000.
The strongman, originally from Loughgbrickland and standing at just under seven foot tall, is widely considered to be the tallest of the world’s active and competing strongmen.
His first major success was being named Ulster’s strongest man in 2014 when he was 24 years old, making him the competition’s youngest winner.
He followed that up by being named Ireland’s strongest man in 2015.
The following year, O’Hagan finished 31st in the strongman world rankings, and a year later he qualified for the Strongman Champions League World Finals in Mexico.
After 18 matches in various locations across the globe, with his best finish being fourth place, he finished ninth in the world final and was named the 20th strongest man in the world, with 71 points.
O’Hagan won the 2020 World’s Strongest Viking competition in Fefor, Norway.
