Three in court for attempted murder

Appearing in the dock at North Antrim Magistrates' Court in Coleraine yesterday (Monday) morning were James Woods of Lisnablagh Road, Martin Mullan of Kingsberry Gardens and Adam Hutchinson of Daneshill Road.

They are all charged with the attempted murder of Ben Strutt on July 16 at Lime Market Street.

Hutchinson was also further charged with the aggravated assault of a female on the same date.

As all three stood together in the dock to have the charges read to them, a PSNI constable took the stand to say that she believed she could connect the three men to the incident.

A representative of the Public Prosecution Service said she was objecting to the men being granted bail.

The constable said that the police also objected to bail for the three accused as the investigation was at an early stage and there was a fear that they would interfere with witnesses.

The constable said that there were 20 to 30 witnesses who still had to be interviewed about the incident.

Defence solicitor for Woods, David Brewster, asked if it was the case that his client had seen CCTV footage of the incident and had admitted his part in the incident.

He asked what evidence there was to suggest that his client would potentially interfere with witnesses.

The constable said that witness statements said that the injured party had been kicked on the head while he was lying on the ground however this was not covered by CCTV.

For this reason, a further 20 to 30 witnesses still needed to be interviewed and this was why she was objecting to bail.

District Judge, Fiona Bagnall, asked if the police's fears would be assuaged if the defendant could provide an address outside of the Coleraine area.

Mr Brewster said that his client could reside in Macosquin and added that his employer had agreed not to find any reason to send him into the Coleraine area. However the constable reiterated her fears that witnesses could be interfered with.

Defence solicitor for Martin Mullan, Garret Green, asked the policewoman if his client's account of the incident had been confirmed by the CCTV footage?

She admitted that it had.

He also asked her to confirm that Mullan had not been given any witness details so therefore asked - how could he interfere with them when he didnt know who they were? He also added that his client has a clear record.

The constable said that, while there were still 20 - 30 people who needed to be interviewed regarding the injured party being kicked in the head, police believed there was a risk of witnesses being interfered with.

Defence solicitor for the third accused Hutchinson, Sam Barr, asked if initially his client had been charged with GBH?

The constable confirmed this.

Mr Barr also asked her to confirm that his client had been given the identity of some of the witnesses and some of them had been anonymised. This was confirmed.

Mr Barr then asked why, if police were so concerned about the risk of witnesses being interfered with, they hadn't anonymised the identities of all the witnesses.

He added that his client was well aware that interfering with any witnesses would make things much worse for him. He said that the case could drop considerably in its seriousness and added that it was not justifiable to keep the men in custody.

Having heard all the submissions, District Judge Fiona Bagnall said that because of the nature of the offence, she was going to agree with the police's concerns over witness interference.

She remanded the three men in custody for two weeks to give the police time to interview the outstanding 20 - 30 witnesses they needed to speak to.

She added that she saw no reason why the interviews could not be conducted in that time.

The three men will re-appear at Coleraine court via videolink on August 2nd.