A retired RUC sergeant bled to death after he was attacked in his home two days before Christmas, a Belfast court heard today.
Mr William Kennedy (65), of Ahoghill, Co Antrim, was found by his daughter lying dead in a pool of blood.
Mr Mervyn Thomas Williamson (21), from Brookfield Gardens, Ahoghill, and Mr Alan McCooke (25), from Galgorm Road, Ahoghill appeared at the High Court today charged with murder. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Prosecution lawyer Mr David Hopley, said Mr Kennedy, who was frail and largely immobile, was prodded and stabbed with a knife taken from his own kitchen while demands were made for money.
He said the victim’s attackers took it in turns to ransack the house and it was alleged they stole £50 and about 40 cigarettes.
The money was used to "fund a drinking binge in Ballymena on the day the police very publicly commenced a murder investigation."
Refusing bail Mr Justice Weatherup said it was despicable attack on a vulnerable man "all for the sake of a few pounds and some cigarettes."