Difference on hearing date

Press, 22 July 1986, Page 6

Difference on hearing date

A depositions hearing date in September for one man accused of the murder of a man, whose mutilated body was found in a High Street shop earlier this month, was not, at present, suitable for his alleged co-offender, said counsel, Mr G. R. Lascelles, in the District Court yesterday.

Mr P. H. B. Hall told Judge Twaddle that September 15 was the arranged date for a depositions hearing for his client, Ernest James Brown, aged 46. Mr Lascelles, who appeared for Kelly Mason, said he did not agree to the depositions date, at this stage, as many inquiries had yet to be made.

The two men, both unemployed, are charged with the murder of Robert William McTague, aged 39, co-owner of Mr Tack Upholstery. Mason, aged 26, was remanded to August 25. The remand for both men was in custody. Sergeant M. J. South asked that the September depositions date remain.

It was still almost a month away after Mr Lascelles’ inquiry period, and by then some arrangement could be made. Mr Hall said he insisted that the depositions date for his client remain.' MORPHINE CHARGES

Three charges of offering to supply morphine to another person during April and May were admitted by Stephen Frank Coward.

Coward, aged 35 (Mr D. C. Fitzgibbon), also admitted possessing morphine on July 9. On each charge he was convicted and committed in custody to the High Court for sentence on a date to be fixed.

Sergeant South said the offences came to light as a result of a telephone interception warrant being used at the Belfast address of a well-known drug user.

Found hidden in a magazine in the defendant’s bedroom was $l3OO in cash which Sergeant South asked be forfeited to the Crown.

Sergeant South said while in prison a packet containing morphine was found hidden in Coward’s body. . He claimed he found the drug in his cell. . SUPPLIED DRUG

A solo mother convicted on three charges .of supplying morphine sulphate was convicted and committed to the High Court for sentence next month. Elizabeth Valma Eason, aged 35 (Mr Fitzgibbon), committed the offences on April 28, May 2, and July 3.

Sergeant South said the defendant’s activities were discovered as a result of the same telephone interception method used in Coward’s case.

Eason, said the reason why she became involved was because, as a drug addict herself, she knew what it was like to be “hanging out” Bail of $4OOO, set in the High Court, was continued. 14 DAYS GOAL Fourteen days, to be concurrent with a present prison term, was the sentence given to a man convicted of causing bodily injury to a motorcyclist by driving in a dangerous manner. Mark Edward Sewhoy, aged 23, was also disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver’s licence for 18 months.

The Judge said it was “a thoroughly bad piece of driving.” As a result of being struck by a car driven by Sewhoy, Alexander David Tana suffered a broken leg, a broken shoulder, a broken hip, and severe abrasions.

The injury took place when Sewhoy, in approaching an intersection in Ferry Road on January 29, crossed on to the in-

. - . v. : ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ i correct side of the njad hitting a car, and the motor-cyclist I | , $5OO FINE „ ‘ A 'fine of $5OO was imposed on a woman bppearing for sentence ; on charges of possessing and administering a drug relating to an incident) in which the body of a young man was found propped up against a post in Healey Avenue. ? The Judge told Tracey Clarke, aged 22, a student (Mr G. H. Nation), that) he accepted she was In (no way responsible for the death of the young man to whom she had administered the drug. . ; Mr Nation said his client a first offender, had, as a result of earlier publicity of the case, lost her part-time job and had been evicted from her flat :■<

Although having taken valium tablets on the day the offending took place, Clarke had acted responsibly by initially trying to resuscitate the unconscious man, and then calling for an ambulance, said Mr Nation. He sought a financial penalty. PERIODIC DETENTION

A woman convicted earlier on two charges of burglary, and one of (receiving, involving property worth $7OOO, was sentenced to periodic detention for four months. The offences, committed in June and July had been admitted by Meiqnie Ann Curtis, aged 18, unemployed (Mr K. iJ. Grave). i Mr Grave said the shock of unemployment and his client's association with a companion experienced in criminal matters led to her offending. At the" time, he sbid, Curtis, a first offender, was out of work, and short of food and money. It had been the intention of the defendant, and her associate, to sell <|the stolen property for cash. Ail the property, except for $7OO in cash, was recovered by the police.