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21/05/2012
Man Remanded In Custody Over Teenage Gun Murder
A man has been remanded in custody after the murder of a teenager over the weekend.
Phelim McNally, 26, from Station Park, Toomebridge, appeared at Londonderry Magistrates’ Court today charged with murder and attempted murder.
Lauren O'Neill, 18, died after a gun attack in the village of Bellaghy, Co. Derry on Saturday morning, which left her older sister Brenda, 21, in a critical condition in hospital.
McNally is the ex-partner of Brenda O'Neill, according to the BBC, and the father of her two-year-old daughter and ten-month-old son.
A police officer told District Judge Barney McElholm that he believed he could connect the defendant to both charges.
Bellaghy parish priest Father Andy Dolan told the BBC he believed Lauren had died saving her sister’s life.
He said: "When Brenda was under attack, Lauren dived in to save her and in the process lost her own life… I'd say they were close in life and in death couldn't be closer."
Two other people were arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender but were released unconditionally on Saturday night.
Relatives of the O'Neill sisters as well as relatives of the defendant wept at today’s hearing, and a female relative of the two sisters had to be helped out of the courtroom by other family members.
There was no application for bail.
(NE)
Phelim McNally, 26, from Station Park, Toomebridge, appeared at Londonderry Magistrates’ Court today charged with murder and attempted murder.
Lauren O'Neill, 18, died after a gun attack in the village of Bellaghy, Co. Derry on Saturday morning, which left her older sister Brenda, 21, in a critical condition in hospital.
McNally is the ex-partner of Brenda O'Neill, according to the BBC, and the father of her two-year-old daughter and ten-month-old son.
A police officer told District Judge Barney McElholm that he believed he could connect the defendant to both charges.
Bellaghy parish priest Father Andy Dolan told the BBC he believed Lauren had died saving her sister’s life.
He said: "When Brenda was under attack, Lauren dived in to save her and in the process lost her own life… I'd say they were close in life and in death couldn't be closer."
Two other people were arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender but were released unconditionally on Saturday night.
Relatives of the O'Neill sisters as well as relatives of the defendant wept at today’s hearing, and a female relative of the two sisters had to be helped out of the courtroom by other family members.
There was no application for bail.
(NE)
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