A 34-year-old man appeared in court today charged with shooting a sleeping two-year-old girl during a gun attack on a Co Armagh house.
The little girl was shot in the groin when a gunman entered the house in the Nationalist Garvaghy Road area of Portadown on Monday and fired several shots into the living room ceiling.
One bullet ripped through the floorboards and struck the sleeping child who remains in hospital in a stable condition.
Labourer Mr Denis Berrywas charged with unlawfully and maliciously causing Caitlin Glennon grievous bodily harm with intent, entering her family home at St John's Court as a trespasser in possession of an automatic weapon and causing her grievous bodily harm and possession of an automatic weapon and ammunition.
He was remanded in custody at Craigavon Magistrates Court to reappear by video-link on February 6th. A police officer told the court that when charged Mr Berry replied: "It wasn't me."
He said he believed he could connect the accused with the charges. Mr Berry, of Garvaghy Park, close to the scene of the shooting, was arrested when police carried out follow up searches of the area after the incident.
he wounded girl's father, another man and two other children who were in the house at the time the gunman burst in, escaped injury. The child's pregnant mother was not at home at the time.
At the same time as being charged with the attack Berry faced three further unconnected charges of obstructing a police constable, assaulting a police constable and possession of an offensive weapon - an iron bar - in March 2002.