A Crossmaglen man has denied his involvement in the hit-and-run death of a 40-year-old father-of-two and then trying to cover up his alleged role.
Standing in the dock of Newry Crown Court, Ciaran Joseph Feeney (37) entered not-guilty pleas to two counts of driving dangerously and perverting the course of justice.
Feeney, from the Dundalk Road, is accused of dangerous driving on the Foxfield Road in the village and also, “having been involved in a collision in which death was caused to Michael Kirk, subsequently left the scene and hid the said vehicle at Foxfield Road” on August 23, 2020.
He is further accused of perverting justice three days later by telling police he “had lost [his] phone, whereas, in fact, the phone had not been lost”.
While Feeney faces two further charges of failing to remain after an accident and failing to report the accident to police, they were not put to the defendant after defence counsel Michael Chambers said he would be lodging No Bill applications on those counts.
The charges rise after Mr Kirk, from Co Monaghan, was discovered lying on the Blaney Road just after 5am that Sunday morning.
He had suffered injuries to his head and was pronounced dead at the scene a short time later.
Prosecuting counsel Geraldine McCullough told the court the evidence of more than a dozen witnesses had been agreed, so the trial, listed for hearing in October, would likely take four to five days to hear.
Freeing Feeney on continuing bail, Judge Gordon Kerr KC said he would deal with the No Bill applications in the first week of October.
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