Northern Ireland

Burglars `beat an elderly man on the head with a hammer and threatened to shoot him in the face'

Three masked men forced their way into the property, dragging a man in his sixties outside and striking him on his head with a hammer
Three masked men forced their way into the property, dragging a man in his sixties outside and striking him on his head with a hammer Three masked men forced their way into the property, dragging a man in his sixties outside and striking him on his head with a hammer

BURGLARS beat an elderly man on the head with a hammer and threatened to shoot him in the face, the High Court has heard.

The masked intruders stole £4,000 cash and a set of commemorative George Best £5 notes from a house at Castlewellan Road, Ballyward on February 22.

Details emerged as bail was refused to Alan Stewart ( 31), of Knockburn Gardens in Lisburn, Co Antrim.

He is allegedly linked by the blood of one victim on his shoe and charged with aggravated burglary and false imprisonment.

Crown lawyer Laura Ievers said three masked men forced their way into the property, dragging a man in his sixties outside and kicking and punching him to the body and head and striking him on his head a number of times with a hammer.

The intruders claimed they were from a proscribed organisation and demanded money from a safe, the court heard.

According to Ms Ievers, when the couple were unable to provide access to the vault, "one threatened to cut the elderly lady's ear using scissors, holding the scissors to her throat".

"He threatened to shoot the elderly male occupier to the back of the head, then said 'I'm going to shoot you to the front of the head so you can see it'."

At that point their son agreed to hand over £1,000, but the gang allegedly continued to demand more cash, boiling a kettle full of water and threatening to pour it over the woman before throwing the contents at her husband.

The court heard they eventually accessed the safe, one of them punching the older man as they were leaving.

The family had their hands bound and warned they would be shot if they called the police, the prosecution contended.

Ms Ievers said the older man suffers dizziness and a bleed to the brain, has ongoing treatment from as neurology team and an unknown long-term prognosis.