TWO north Belfast men have gone on trial at the Crown Court for the murder of a hairdresser whose body was found in the Waterworks Park last year.
Mr Norman Anthony Harley died from injuries to his head and body after he was attacked on November 27th last year. His body was found later that night by two brothers walking their six lurcher dogs.
Mark Bell ringer, Thompson House, Antrim Road, and Christopher McMillan, Kansas Avenue both aged 21, deny the murder.
Bellringer has pleaded guilty to a further charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm on another man on the same date.
Crown counsel told Mr Justice Pringle that Mr Harley had been drinking with friends most of the day and would have been unable to defend himself. He added that the prosecution believed a steel bar more than two feet long could be shown to have been used in Mr Harley's murder.
The court heard that earlier the same day, two men, one carrying a metal bar, approached a man in the Waterworks area and asked him if he was dealing in drugs.
"One man took something from his pocket and struck the man violently on the face," counsel said.
An autopsy showed Mr Harley had quite a high level of alcohol in his blood at the time of his death, counsel said. "He would have been quite intoxicated after leaving his flat at 7.30 p.m."
The lawyer added that Witness A would describe meeting the accused McMillan who he claimed, told the witness: "We beat a taig around the head in the waterworks."