An Iraq War veteran waged a one-man war of words against his ex-wife from his doorstep when he discovered she had moved into a pub directly opposite his digs.
Ex-infantryman Michael Bona, 39, screamed degrading insults at his former spouse Lucy Boka from his front door whenever he spotted her arriving or leaving her new home.
During his vindictive four-month verbal campaign Bona, who served with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, called Ms Boka as an ‘alcoholic’, a ‘crack head’ and a ‘lesbian’ in front of customers at the Antelope pub in Congleton, Cheshire.
The father of five also rang the pub on multiple occasions from his terraced property directly opposite to hurl abuse about Ms Boka down the phone to her colleagues.
The ex-soldier also called his ex-wife up to 100 times a day and would loiter outside the bar staring in through the window.
He told Ms Boka, who has a new partner: ‘I am going to make sure you lose everything and destroy you.’
Ex-infantryman Michael Bona, 39, screamed degrading insults at his ex-wife Lucy Boka from his front door whenever he spotted her arriving or leaving her new home
![Ms Boka, who is in her 30s, works at the pub opposite her ex-husband's terraced house while running her own business](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/22/09/81569883-13112723-image-a-2_1708594265871.jpg)
Ms Boka, who is in her 30s, works at the pub opposite her ex-husband’s terraced house while running her own business
![The father of five rang the pub on multiple occasions to hurl abuse about Ms Boka down the phone to her colleagues](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/22/09/81569889-13112723-image-a-3_1708594280340.jpg)
The father of five rang the pub on multiple occasions to hurl abuse about Ms Boka down the phone to her colleagues
Ms Boka, who is in her 30s and works at the pub while running her own business had to use the fire escape whenever she wanted to leave the pub simply to avoid her embittered ex-husband outside the front entrance.
In a statement she said: ‘I have lost close friends because of the verbal abuse given them. Family were abused by texts and phone calls, which stopped them visiting and he has tried to completely isolate me from everybody.
‘I was close to a complete breakdown at one point I was ready to end everything. I do not want to be in contact with him again as I know he can and will lower me to that place again.
‘He intimidated me, staring into the pub and turned my own children against me.
‘He pulled his car up alongside when walking with the children telling them it is my fault he is not seeing them.
‘He keeps telling me I am a bad mother, and puts it on social media.’
Ms Boka said that Bona had told her that her business was going to fail and consistently phoned her, ‘up to 100 times a day along with text messages’.
She added: ‘I could not walk out of the front door without him abusing me from his doorstep.
![The 39-year-old was upset at the breakdown of his marriage and was struggling with alcohol and drug abuse](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/22/09/81569881-13112723-image-m-10_1708594335609.jpg)
![Bona served with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and has struggled with PTSD](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/22/09/81569899-13112723-image-a-11_1708594350103.jpg)
Bona has suffered from PTSD following his military service in Iraq and Northern Ireland
![The military veteran launched a campaign of intimidation against Lucy Boka, pulling his car up alongside her when walking with the children telling them it was her fault he was not seeing them](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/22/09/81569893-13112723-image-a-5_1708594296854.jpg)
The military veteran launched a campaign of intimidation against Lucy Boka, pulling his car up alongside her when walking with the children telling them it was her fault he was not seeing them
![Bona told customers that Ms Boka was an alcoholic and a cocaine addict which led her to lose friends stop answering her business phone](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/22/09/81569895-13112723-image-a-6_1708594306851.jpg)
Bona told customers that Ms Boka was an alcoholic and a cocaine addict which led her to lose friends stop answering her business phone
![The father of five is now planning to move out of his home opposite The Antelope pub and move in with his mother to his childhood home in Prestatyn, North Wales](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/22/09/81569885-13112723-image-a-7_1708594314567.jpg)
The father of five is now planning to move out of his home opposite The Antelope pub and move in with his mother to his childhood home in Prestatyn, North Wales
‘He told customers that I am an alcoholic and a cokehead, to try and ruin my business and eventually I stopped answering the business phone. It sent me into depression. At the worst point I could not see a way out.’
Bona, who suffered from PTSD following his military service in Iraq and Northern Ireland, was said to be upset at the breakdown of his marriage and was struggling with drug and alcohol use.
He is now planning to move in with his mother to his childhood home in Prestatyn, North Wales.
At Warrington Magistrates Court he pleaded guilty to two charges of harassment between September and December 2023 and was banned from contacting her for two years under the rems of a restraining order.
Clare Oliver, prosecuting, said: ‘Lucy Boka says Mr Bona lives directly opposite her place of work, the Antelope Pub in Congleton and he continuously called and messaged her. He rang the pub on multiple occasions knowing it was her place of work.
‘During initial allegations, he stood outside of his address, and on a number of occasions shouted verbal abuse towards her.
‘Because he lives opposite her place of work he is able to stand outside of her work place shouting abuse, calling her an alcoholic, crack head, c**t, a druggy and a lesbian. He was making allegations in an attempt to get her sacked from her employment there.’
‘The offending was extremely persistent over a fairly prolonged period. There were over 100 calls and Ms Boka was very fearful and distressed in relation to these matters.’
For Bona, defence solicitor Michael Gray said: ‘He has had a very difficult time in the last 20 years. He was in the army, in the infantry, he was injured in battle himself. He has been directly engaging with the enemy in his role as an infantryman and has seen colleagues killed in front of him.
‘Latterly that has resulted in PTSD for which he was treated and sometime after leaving the army he fell into a period where he was drinking to excess.
‘Latterly, he suffered with a pulmonary embolism and if that wasn’t bad enough, he has been treated for cancer.
‘But the big change in his life really came last year when things were getting very difficult for him and he has lost over six stone in weight. He went to the gym and started to sort himself out physically. He is now trying mentally to move forwards.
‘What belies this offending is his children and everything that he has done has been to try and look after his children.
‘He tells me that his 10 year-old-daughter lives with him permanently and is the sole carer and he is in the process of dealing with care in relation to other children.
‘It is his intention in the next few weeks to move to Prestatyn to be near his mother, to move away from the area completely. He knows the relationship has come to an end and he understands the complainant has a new partner.
‘He was upset at the way the marriage was breaking down and there was an awful combination of drinks and drugs as it was coming to an end and gambling became a big problem. He has managed to stay off the drink and drugs and the gambling has now gone away too.
‘He says that he has to do as much as he can now to demonstrate that he can be a good father to his children. At the moment he lives across the road from the public house where his ex-wife is, so it is very difficult at the moment.’
In sentencing District Judge Jane Hamilton also ordered Bona to complete a two-year community order with requirements that he undertakes the Building Better Relationships programme, and up to 25 rehabilitation activity days. She also fined him £100, ordered that he pay £234 in costs and victim surcharge. he is now banned from entering the Antelope Pub.
‘I do find that this is a serious offence which caused very serious distress to your wife to the extent that she felt that she perhaps could not go on,’.
Judge Hamilton said: ‘I do not know what was going through her mind at that time, but listening to her victim personal statement it sounds like she was considering suicide. It was persistent harassment over a fairly long period of time.’
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