A DERRY man allegedly involved in a so called punishment beating claimed that at the time of the incident he was drinking with friends in Co Donegal, Belfast Crown Court has been told.
Mr Colm Patrick Moore (26), of Rathkeele Way, Creggan, was picked out at an identity parade as the driver of a red Cavalier seen by police shortly after the assault on May 19th last year.
The car, which was registered in Mr Moore's name, was one of two vehicles used by the gang of masked men who abducted a 20 year old man from his Creggan home and beat him at gunpoint in a nearby alley.
Mr Justice Sheil heard yesterday that after his arrest in August, 1995, Mr Moore's solicitor handed in a prepared statement which read "On the evening of May 19th, I was not in Derry city. I spent the night drinking with friends in Letterkenny in Co Donegal and did not return to Derry until the following day.
"I left my car outside my house at Rathkeele Way and the keys in the house. I did not drive the car that evening at all."
The court has already been given evidence from an RUC officer who picked Mr Moore out at an ID parade. He identified him as the driver of a car which his patrol failed to stop, chased, and found abandoned a short distance from Mr Moore's home. A hammer, an iron bar and a number of balaclavas were found in the car.
The RUC inspector who conducted the identity parade refuted a defence suggestion that before the line up he had gone to the defendant's cell with another person, opened the hatch and said. "There he is there." The jailer on duty said he had no recollection of this.
Mr Moore has denied charges of false imprisonment, causing grievous bodily harm with intent, and possessing a handgun with intent to endanger life.