THE loyalist, Mr Billy Wright, claimed his arrest was a "vindictive" action by the RUC and a pay back for Drumcree, Belfast Crown Court beard yesterday.
He also claimed during police interviews that security legislation was being used against him "as a political end". Mr Wright (36), of Hartfield Square, Portadown, Co Armagh, denies threatening Mrs Gwen Reed (42), and perverting justice by also threatening the safety of her son, Thomas, on August 10th, 1995.
Mrs Reed, a divorced mother of four, claimed Mr Wright had threatened to shoot her after she had identified two men as the alleged attackers of her daughter during a "punishment" beating. A detective told Lord Justice McCollum that Mr Wright had claimed Mrs Reed was "paranoid" and that she had "carefully manipulated events".
"I believe that Gwen feels that loyalists were responsible for injuring her daughter and through her paranoid mind, she carefully manipulated events. I think it is odd that people who claimed to be intimidated by me should decide to move up 10 yards away from my home," Mr Wright added.
He admitted speaking to Mrs Reed's son, Thomas, the day after the attack on his sister Nicola and her boyfriend, Mr Jason Hughes, but denied threatening the teenager. "I chastised him about his behaviour. I was helping to defuse a tense situation."
The trial continues today.