A man who went on wrecking spree of his neighbours cars and houses has said ‘demons’ made him do it, a court heard on Saturday.
Appearing in the dock of Belfast Magistrates Court without legal representation, 36-year-old Kenneth Lawrence Elliott, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, was charged with 15 counts of causing criminal damage to the windows of cars and houses belonging to his neighbours in the Graymount Drive area of Newtownabbey, Co Antrim on February 19th this year.
Elliott, from Graymount Drive, was also charged with cultivating cannabis and dishonestly obtaining a quantity of electricity.
Asked if he understood the charges, Elliott said “slightly - I don’t understand nothing about the last few days.”
A police officer told the court he knew the facts and circumstances surrounding the offences and believed he could connect Elliott to them.
In objecting to bail, the officer said that after the caution Elliott declared “it was the demons” who made him do it, which led police to fear that further offences could be committed.
Solicitor Shane O’Neill said he had attended Elliott during police interviews but that since then, “the paranoid schizophrenic” had dispensed of his services though he was willing to represent him again if the court required his help.
During a an exchange with District Judge Harry McKibbin, Elliott told the judge the “demons made him do it” and conceded he could not guarantee they would not make him so it again.
Refusing bail, Judge McKibbin remanded Elliott into custody to appear again via video link on Friday, February 27th.