Trio charged with Carlisle Road assault

John Sweeney (38) and 23-year-old Stephen Sweeney, both of Baltimore House, Bridge Street, and the 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, are jointly charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

The charge relates to an alleged incident on May 3.

It is understood the alleged injured party sustained serious head injuries and was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit of the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast following the incident.

An investigating officer told the court she believed she could connect all three defendants to the charge and said that bail would be opposed.

Seamus Quigley, defence solicitor for Stephen Sweeney, said his client would not be applying for bail at this time.

He told the court one of the issues was the ‘very poor health of the injured party, however it is hoped that there could be a development today’ in relation to that.

Defence solicitors for the two other defendants made similar applications.

All three defendants were remanded in custody to appear in court again on May 7 via videolink.