A MAN has appeared at the Magistrate’s Court in Derry charged with murdering his former partner’s sister and with attempting to murder his former partner.
Lauren O’Neill (18) was shot dead in a house at William Court in Bellaghy, Co Derry, last Saturday morning. Her sister Brenda O’Neill (21) was critically wounded in the same incident.
Phelim McNally (26), Station Park, Toomebridge, Co Antrim, was charged yesterday with Lauren’s murder and Brenda’s attempted murder. Mr McNally is the former partner of Brenda O’Neill and the father of their two-year-old daughter and 10-month-old son.
Mr McNally, who was brought to the Bishop Street courthouse in police custody for a short remand hearing, replied “I do” when asked by a court clerk whether he understood the two charges. Relatives of the O’Neill sisters and relatives of Mr McNally wept when Det Sgt John Walsh of the PSNI’s crime operations unit in Belfast told District Judge Barney McElholm that he was familiar with the background and circumstances of the case and that he believed he could connect Mr McNally to both charges. There was no bail application from Mr McNally’s solicitor, Ronan McCourt, who told the district judge he had no questions for the police witness.
Judge McElholm remanded him in custody for a video-link hearing at Magherafelt District Court on June 13th. After yesterday’s remand hearing, a female relative of the two sisters broke down and had to be helped from the courtroom by relatives.