AN ANTRIM man has been jailed for life for the murder of Lisburn man Darren Roberts (20) in June 2009.
Stephen Alister (22), Rushmore Crescent, Lisburn, was due to go on trial at Craigavon Crown Court yesterday morning along with two others.
Following the selection of the jury of nine women and three men, Patrick Lyttle QC, defending, asked that Alister, an apprentice plasterer, be rearraigned on each of the three charges he faced.
As each of the charges of murdering Mr Roberts, causing an affray, and wounding a second man, Gareth Reid, with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm, all on June 13th, 2009, Alister answered “guilty”.
Trial judge Mr Justice McLaughlin told Alister that “there was only one sentence that this court can pass and I therefore sentence you to life imprisonment”.
Mr Justice McLaughlin also told Alister he would fix the minimum tariff of the life term he must serve, at the conclusion of the trial of his two former co-accused.
They are Diarmaid Paul Anderson (21), Peel Gardens, Ballinderry Upper, and David James Curran (25), South Link, Andersonstown. They both deny Mr Roberts’s murder and causing an affray.
No details surrounding the death of Mr Roberts were given to the jury, which was told that given Alister’s guilty pleas, the trial may be shorter than the expected four weeks it was estimated to last.
The trial itself will begin this morning with the opening of the prosecution case from crown lawyer Gordon Kerr.