A 21-YEAR-OLD man accused of having explosives at the border home he shared with his girlfriend has told a court he deliberately sabotaged efforts to make a bomb.
Denying he was a terrorist or that he supported dissident republican activity, Keith McConnan claimed on Tuesday he bought an industrial grinder in fear of a man he named only as 'Mr X'.
McConnan - who is originally from Kilcurry in Dundalk - said when he realised it was to be used for making explosives and not fuel laundering as he initially believed, he sabotaged two attempts as he did not want to be involved.
Both McConnan and 20-year-old Orla O'Hanlon were arrested in December 2013 after their Forkhill home in south Armagh was searched by police.
The couple are facing charges linked to the discovery in the rented bungalow of an industrial grinder, a "complete" Timer Power Unit and a quantity of crushed ammonium nitrate fertiliser - which the Crown say has been "encountered in improvised explosive substances" in Northern Ireland in the past.
McConnan, from Tievecom Road in Forkhill and O'Hanlon, from Church Road in the village, both deny the charges.
Giving evidence at his non-jury trial at Belfast Crown Court, McConnan said in August 2013 a group of armed men called at his parents' home and threatened his brother, accusing him of being involved in the theft of cigarettes from a local smuggler.
McConnan said the cigarettes were stolen from a yard linked to a Mr X, who he worked with, and who told him "Don't worry, it will be okay".
Under questioning by his barrister Barry Macdonald, McConnan said he was asked around the same time to buy a grinder, and agreed out of fear that the threat to shoot his brother would be carried out.
He said he was also given a black bin liner containing a substance he knew to be fertiliser.
He said: "I panicked initially. I was very scared. This was material which could kill people. I felt completely sick, I didn't know what to do."
McConnan said he worked out ways to ensure the grinder didn't work properly, including turning it upside down and burning out the motor.
A second grinder was then purchased under the orders of Mr X but he said he added pinhead oats to the mix to render it useless.
When police searched the house a powdery substance - crushed ammonium nitrate based fertilizer - was located on the the grinder.
McConnan, who is on remand, was asked if he had requested to be moved to join republican inmates at Maghaberry jail and said "Never."
Under cross-examination by Crown counsel Terence Mooney, he was accused of being "a terrorist who was quite willing to test his (Mr X's) equipment to see if it would work to make a bomb".
McConnan rejected this and said "I am not a terrorist."
At hearing.
