A motorist stopped near Craigavon Area Hospital to see if a man in the road who waving his arms in the air was ok but the pedestrian allegedly got into the vehicle and said: “I have a gun. It is either your life or the car”.
Details were given to Craigavon Magistrates’ Court where Robert McKee, of Weaver Avenue in Donaghcloney, appeared via video link from prison charged in relation to Saturday, January 25 this year.
The 45-year-old is charged with hijacking a Volkswagen Polo car; taking the car without the consent of the owner; attempting to hijack an ambulance; driving whilst disqualified; absence of insurance; making a threat to kill a male; kidnapping of the male; assaulting the male and assaulting a police officer.
Objecting to bail, a police officer said the defendant was a patient at Craigavon Area Hospital. He was causing a disruption at the hospital. He removed a cannula from his arm and began “flicking blood” at police.
A short time later police received a report of a hijacking near the hospital. A man was driving a Volkswagen Polo and saw a man in the road erratically waving his arms.
He stopped to see if the person was ok. The man got into the passenger side of the car and said: “I have a gun. It is either your life or the car”.
He told the man to drive him to Belfast. The motorist drove to Carn Industrial Estate in Portadown where he works.
The defendant ordered the man out of the car and then drove off.
He did not come to police attention for a period of time and was “essentially on the run” before his arrest, said the police officer.
An earlier court was told of a report of a man matching McKee’s description “jumping on the bonnet of an ambulance,” where he got into the driver’s seat and tried to drive off but was unable to so because of anti-theft technology.
The defendant had 54 previous offences.
A defence barrister said the defendant had “delirium” at the time of the alleged offences.
He said the defendant denied flicking blood.
The barrister said the defendant said he removed the cannula to spill blood on the floor “so that people would understand that he had been at the hospital and that he was killed as a result of a joint police/paramilitary action. This was how far his mind had gone”.
District Judge Michael Ranaghan refused bail saying the defendant “showed a complete disregard to the police and possibly others who blood could have been in contact with”.
He said the alleged car hijacking would have been “particularly distressing and horrific for the driver involved”.
Bail was refused and the case was adjourned to June 20.
