A Newry man accused of pointing a gun at a woman’s face and threatened to “blow your brains out of you” has been bailed.
Shane Peter Campbell, 52, of Barr Hill, appeared in Newry Magistrates’ Court on Monday accused of possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and possession of a firearm in suspicious circumstances.
The alleged incident occurred at approximately 9pm on Thursday, November 21.
Police received a report from the complainant that two men appeared at her home address in Bessbrook.
These males threw an invoice through the door at her father and ran out the front gate. The complainant then followed the males, where an argument has ensued in the street.
At this point, a police officer told the court, one of the males produces a firearm, pointing at her and threatening her, saying, “if you don’t go in, I’ll blow your brains out of you”.
Two males leave and the complainant chases them. She says she saw a blue Navy Volkswagen Passat leaving the area at speed, and has followed this vehicle in her car.
Her passenger was videoing this as it was happening, obtaining the registration. Whilst following this vehicle the complainant has then witnessed one of the males from the incident in the vehicle.
This male, she claims, had glasses on with a grey hoodie – the hood was down at this point.
Police carried out checks on the vehicle and confirmed it was insured to the defendant and he was the only male insured on it.
After the incident, police attended Campbell’s home address, however, he was not present. His partner attempted to phone him a number of times but there was no answer.
On Friday, November 22, police then stopped the vehicle at the Fiveways in Newry and arrested Campbell.
During interview he provided no comment for the majority. Initially, he provided an alibi, that he was at home at the time of the incident with his wife.
On Saturday, November 23, police conducted two searches on properties connected to Campbell.
Whilst at one of these properties, police spoke to Campbell’s wife, who stated he had not been in the property when she returned at the indicated time.
Campbell was further interviewed, where he gave a prepared statement, in which he completely denied any involvement in the alleged offences.
He stated he “did not own a firearm or have any knowledge of a firearm, and he did not know any of the persons or the persons or the house in question, and that his vehicle had been taken by somebody else. He stated he was not driving at the time, and that he was in genuine fear for his safety, and that of his family, if he said anything more”.
Police seized Campbell’s shoes, as they matched the description of those that were seen on CCTV, worn by the suspects, and he was subsequently charged.
Outlining an objection to bail, the officer said that while Campbell has absolutely no criminal record, there is a concern over an outstanding weapon, as well as a second unaccounted for suspect.
“We fear that this is obviously a risk to public safety and a potential loss of evidence,” said the officer.
Defence barrister, Aaron Thompson, reiterated that his client was a 52-year-old man with “no record at all”.
He added: “There’s a bit of a thorny issue over the alibi in this cas, which will have to be bottomed out, because his wife, I think, is going to have to give another statement to police.
“She’s actually gone away and looked at receipts that she had from the shops in terms of time she returned home, and because police obviously asked her about that, and I think she thinks she’s actually returned home at a slightly different time, which might be closer to what the accused has said.
“And so there’s going to have to be some things looked at about that, and she may need to go back to police and actually provide receipts, etc, from shops that she was in because it may be actually of greater assistance than initially thought.”
Mr Thompson addressed the issued of an alleged weapon being at large.
“As I understand, there were two witnesses,” he said, “and two masked men allegedly in this incident.”
“Now, of the two witnesses, I understand that they give different physical descriptions of the person in the car, and I also understand that they give different material descriptions of the firearm. Somebody described it as a sawn off shotgun, and somebody described it as a handgun, so there’s going to be issues going forward that are going to need to be resolved. ”
He continued: “There’s somebody else undetected; we know that as a fact, because whoever the two men were – there were two – and so somebody’s not been arrested, and somebody’s got away somewhere with something potentially, so I don’t think there’s anything this accused can do about that to hurt the investigation, frankly, by being released on bail.
“This is a man with no history of violence, no history of so much as a road traffic offence, so I think to suggest that he would go the extra step and start interfering with evidence and investigation….I think this is a case that when one steps back from the alleged seriousness of the offence, everything is there that should be there for the presumption of bail to be exercised in his favour.”
District Judge Eamon King agreed and released Campbell on his own bail of £350, along with a £1,000 cash surety. He is barred from entering Bessbrook as defined by the 30mph zone and is subject to a 5am to 9pm curfew.
The case was adjourned until December 23.
