A MAN was allegedly stabbed and beaten with a hammer before being thrown off a first-floor balcony, the High Court heard today.
Prosecutors said he sustained head injuries, knife wounds and a punctured lung in the attack at his flat in Newry.
Details emerged as a 16-year-old boy charged with his attempted murder was granted bail.
The youth, who cannot be named because of his age, also faces counts of possessing an offensive weapon with intent to commit an indictable offence and having a Class B drug.
Police discovered the injured man lying under a first floor balcony at the property on Cleary Crescent in the early hours of May 29 last year.
Blood was dripping onto the ground from the flat above, the court heard.
Briege Gilmore, prosecuting, said the man claimed the teenage defendant, another youth and an older man jointly assaulted him when a drink-fuelled row erupted at his home.
One of the trio stabbed him with a steak knife while the other two repeatedly beat him with a hammer and a knife, it was alleged.
Ms Gilmore submitted: "All three males that he named lifted him by the legs and threw him from the first floor balcony onto a concrete path below, a distance of some 15 feet."
According to the prosecution the assailants headed downstairs to continue the attack, with a wheel brace being produced and waved about in front of witnesses.
The court was told the alleged victim also suffered cracked ribs, lacerations and stab wounds to his shoulder and buttock.
During the hearing it emerged that the 16-year-old accused had been on bail, but was returned to custody for breaching a no-alcohol condition at his children's home.
Ms Gilmore contended that he appeared to be under the influence of drugs when arrested, and spoke of previously having injected cocaine.
At one stage the youth also lived with an uncle addicted to heroin at an address where needles and other associated paraphernalia were discovered, she added.
Lord Justice McCloskey granted bail and ordered the youth to abide by all the rules of the children's home and imposed a ban on entering Newry.