A Broward judge lifted the restraining order Friday against a Fort Lauderdale businessman who was accused of terrorizing five homeless men with a chain saw.

Two of the homeless men, James Brown and Terry Hampton, showed up in court to face their alleged attacker, Stephen Sticht, but Judge Matthew Destry told the men there were not enough instances of violence to warrant a permanent restraining order.

Destry, a judge who primarily handles domestic violence cases, said there had to be at least two instances of battery or assault for him to grant the petition.

In April, Sticht, who owns a business near 13th Street and Dixie Highway, was ordered to stay away from the men. The case grabbed the attention of homeless rights advocates and civil rights groups such as the ACLU and the NAACP.

''It's been devastating going through this,'' Sticht said after the hearing. ``I feel very good right now.''

The homeless men -- Michael Scarola, Alphonso Davis, Steve Newton, Brown and Hampton -- had complained for months to the Fort Lauderdale Police Department that they have been terrorized by Sticht, whom they called ``The Chain Saw Man.''

They say he chased them through fields and over railroad tracks, armed with a chain saw. Sticht cut up their property and even shot at them with a pistol, the men said.

Posters with the men's faces under the word ''REWARD'' were posted on light poles in the area asking locals to turn the men in if they were spotted, as if they were fugitives from justice.

Sticht denies making the fake reward posters.