THERE were dramatic scenes today when a teenager appeared in court accused of stabbing a nurse to death on Christmas Day.
As 19-year-old Nathan Ward was being led away to the cells following a brief hearing in Craigavon, Charlotte Reat - whose mother he is alleged to have murdered - was physically restrained as she leapt forward towards the dock shouting “It’s not fair, it’s not fair.”
With a stitched wound over her right eye, the 21-year-old wept as she was held back and comforted by friends and relatives.
A man in the packed public gallery also had to be restrained by uniformed police and court security staff.
Ward, who appeared in the dock with both arms in plaster, was charged with the murder of Jayne Toal Reat (43) in Lisburn on December 25 and the attempted murders of her daughter Charlotte and his own father Joseph Tweedie on the same date.
Ward's father is understood to have been in a relationship with the dead woman.
The nurse at Craigavon Area Hospital died after an incident at the accused's house in Mornington Lane in Lisburn.
It is understood police and ambulance crews were called to the scene shortly after 6am on Christmas Day.
In Craigavon Magistrate's Court yesterday a detective inspector said she believed she could connect Ward to the offences.
With a defence barrister making no application for bail, District Judge Rosie Watters remanded him into custody to appear again via videolink in Lisburn on January 8. .