A SPECIAL sitting of the Magistrate’s Court in Derry yesterday was told that a local man armed himself with a brass knuckleduster, a hatchet and a screwdriver because he was under threat from a paramilitary organisation.
Barry McCafferty (34), from Rossville Street in the Bogside, returned to Derry last Thursday for a brief holiday. He was found with the weapons concealed inside his clothes when he was searched by police officers on Sunday night at Bishop Street close to the city centre. He had been refused entry to a bar in the Diamond after door staff had noticed the hatchet inside his jacket.
A prosecution solicitor said the door staff alerted the police and officers stopped Mr McCafferty a short distance away. When he was arrested, he told the police: “The IRA are trying to kill me.”
Defence solicitor Séamus Quigley said Mr McCafferty, who admitted possessing the three offensive weapons, has been under a threat from a paramilitary organisation. “He thought it better to move out of town and has been living in England, working part-time on building sites. It had been his intention to return to England on Monday . . . He feared someone from a paramilitary background intended to do him damage . . .” said Mr. Quigley.
District Judge Barney McElholm imposed a four-month sentence, suspended for two years, on each offence. He issued a destruction order in relation to the knuckleduster, hatchet and screwdriver.