THREE MEN from the Creggan area of Derry city appeared in court yesterday charged with the attempted murder of a 27-year-old man from Co Donegal in the early hours of Friday last.
Neil Coyle (25), of Carrickreagh Gardens, Gary McDermott (26), of Creggan Heights and Patrick Ward (21), of Rathmore Road are jointly charged with attempting to murder Barry McNulty, a PhD computer studies student from Ballyduff, Lifford, on Foyle Street in Derry.
Relatives of Mr McNulty, including his fiancee who is from the United States, attended the remand hearing in the Magistrate’s Court in Derry yesterday after which the three defendants were released on bail.
A detective sergeant told District Judge Bernadette Kelly that Mr Coyle and Mr McDermott had made admissions. He confirmed that Mr Ward, who denied the offence, and Mr McDermott had gone voluntarily to the police station and CCTV footage was a primary source of evidence.
The police witness said Mr McNulty, who is studying at the Letterkenny Institute of Technology, had been involved in “a verbal altercation” outside the Metro Bar in Derry before he was later punched a number of times in nearby Foyle Street.
He said the victim was in a critical condition in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast with head injuries.
All three defendants were released on their own bail of £500 with a surety of £1,000 each. They were ordered not to consume alcohol, to sign on at Strand Road police station three times weekly, and not to attempt to interfere with any witnesses in the case. They were also ordered to observe an 8pm to 7.30am curfew and to appear again in court on May 19th.