A man and a schoolboy charged in connection with the death of Thomas McDonald (16) in north Belfast last week were released on bail yesterday.
Mr Patrick Auld (20) and the 15-year-old juvenile are charged with attempting to pervert justice by making untrue statements about the incident at Whitewell Road in which the teenager was killed after a motorist struck his bicycle.
The High Court in Belfast heard that Mr Auld - publication of his address is banned - and the juvenile were passengers in a car driven by Ms Alison McKeown (32), who is in custody accused of murder. Publication of her address has also been banned.
A Crown lawyer, Mr David Hopley, said Ms McKeown had told police she saw a young man on a bicycle holding a halfbrick, which he threw, hitting the windscreen and bonnet of her car. Mr Hopley said it was alleged that Ms McKeown "then pursued him in her car and ran over him, and he died as a result". He said the car left the area without stopping.
Mr Hopley said Mr Auld and the juvenile later made statements about the incident which contradicted each other and the statements of witnesses.
A defence lawyer, Mr Michael Campbell, said that the two had no control over the tragic incident and had voluntarily gone to a police station to make statements which differed only marginally.
Mr Justice Higgins released them on their own bail of £250, with sureties of £1,000, and ordered them not to enter the Whitewell area and to live at addresses elsewhere, which were handed into the court.
The judge said that if Ms McKeown was granted bail he would make it a condition that the two defendants should not make contact with her.