A 19-year-old Coalisland man was charged with attempted murder at a special sitting in Belfast City Hospital yesterday. The accused man, Mr Gareth Malachy Doris, from Meenagh Park, Coalisland, was wounded in a shooting by undercover soldiers in Co Tyrone last week.
The hospital court sitting was held in a side ward which was guarded by plainclothes police officers. Mr Doris, who lay on his bed, was charged with attempted murder at Coalisland RUC station last Wednesday and maliciously causing an explosion at the police station. He did not speak during the four-minute hearing but nodded his assent when a court clerk asked if he understood the nature of the charges.
An RUC detective inspector said Mr Doris made no reply when the charges were preferred against him in the hospital on Monday. Replying to defence solicitor Mr Patrick Mallon, the inspector said the nature of the evidence was "witness and forensic". Mr Doris was remanded in custody to appear at Belfast Magistrates Court on April 29th. Mr Mallon said an application for bail would be made in the High Court in due course.