A man accused of a hit-and-run murder in a nightclub car park was rescuing a friend from a vicious beating when he struck the victim, a court heard today.
Sean Mimnagh (21) was killed outside the Glengannon Hotel in Dungannon, Co Tyrone, early on Sunday.
A witness has alleged that Gerard McKenna, a 32-year-old steel erector, fatally collided with Mr Mimnagh after driving a car at him.
The dead man's two sisters Catherine and Natalie sobbed uncontrollably as they listened in Dungannon Magistrates' Court to the events surrounding the tragedy.
Their brother, a plasterer from Omagh, Co Tyrone, was a popular and talented Gaelic hurler who represented his county at the sport.
But a lawyer for Mr McKenna, who denies seeing the victim, told the court his client had been trying to escape from the scene of a fight.
Cross-examining a detective who declared he could connect the accused with the offence, solicitor Francis Rafferty said Mr McKenna, of Legane Road, Dungannon, and a friend had driven to the hotel's Club Matrix when a row flared outside.
"There was an altercation involving the person with Mr McKenna," the lawyer said.
"As a result of that the person with Mr McKenna received a beating including being kicked while on the ground."
"Mr McKenna retrieved the car from the car park and drove towards where his friend was lying on the ground."
The second man was bundled into the vehicle and it was while they were trying to exit the car park that the collision occurred, Mr Rafferty said.
Although the detective disclosed that a witness had told police the car was driven at the dead man, the solicitor insisted only one out of seven people identified as being in the car park said they saw the actual collision.
"That person who claims to have witnessed it was a taxi driver who came to Dungannon to collect the party of which Mr Mimnagh was a member," the solicitor said.
McKenna was remanded in custody until August 17th by magistrate Greg McCourt.
PA