Saintfield man refused bail on attack charges

Saintfield man refused bail on attack charges

21 December 2022

A SAINTFIELD man accused of being a member of a drug-dealing gang and facing an attempted murder charge has been refused bail.

Sean Davies (40), of Queens Park, also faces charges of kidnapping and arson.

Davies and another alleged member of the gang, Mark Bradshaw (52), of High Street, Belfast, were refused bail in the High Court in Belfast last week.

The court was told that the victim, who was stabbed in the chest with a heated knife after being accused of stealing drug customers, was dumped semi-naked in a bin and left to die.

A prosecutor claimed a gang of cocaine dealers also attacked the man with a hatched before trying to “dispose” of him in a field.

It was disclosed that efforts have allegedly been made to buy the man’s silence.

Binmen discovered the badly wounded man in a field near Broughshane, Co Antrim, on October 11 last year.

Dressed in just shoes and boxer shorts, he was described as being close to death when he was found.

With injuries including a fractured skull and detached jaw, he spent weeks in intensive care and required plastic surgery.

The man told police he was allegedly attacked at the home of a co-accused, David Coleman (37), of Fountain Place, Ballymena.

He described going to the flat and agreeing to pack cocaine in a bid to pay off an outstanding debt.

But after being accused of trying to steal customers, he was repeatedly punched, ordered to strip off and told to clean up his own blood.

The prosecutor said a knife was heated on a gas hob and used to stab the man in the chest.

She said the man was driven out of the town in the boot of a car and abandoned in a field after being struck on the back of the head with a blunt object believed to have been a hatchet.

Claiming that Davies and Bradshaw were “trusted members” of a gang of cocaine dealers, she said the case against them was based on CCTV and witness evidence.

Lawyers for Davies and Bradshaw said the pair should be released from custody due to the anticipated delay in the case reaching trial.

With committal proceedings due to be held in February, Mr Justice Rooney denied both applications for bail.

He said: “The suggestion that delay is an adequate change of circumstances does not convince me.”