A man is to undergo plastic surgery to facial wounds after he was allegedly attacked with a broken Buckfast bottle on a Co Down street, a court heard today.
Police said the victim was slashed about the head and body as violence flared in the Burren Meadows area of Newcastle on Saturday.
William Kennedy, 27, appeared at Belfast Magistrates’ Court on a charge of causing him grievous bodily harm with intent.
Kennedy, of De Courcey Way in Dundrum, faces a further count of possessing an offensive weapon, namely a broken glass bottle, with intent to commit an indictable offence.
Police went to the scene after receiving a 999 call about disturbances near the housing development just before 11am. A member of the public claimed people were stabbing each other as they fought with knives and bottles.
An investigating detective said the victim was discovered in the street, bleeding heavily from slash marks to his head, arms, chest and neck.
“It was reported that the defendant had assaulted and struck him with a Buckfast bottle,” she told the court.
“He attended the Royal Victoria Hospital (in Belfast)... and is currently awaiting plastic surgery for injuries to his face.”
Kennedy was located and arrested at a nearby property. Remnants of the glass bottle retrieved from the area backed up the alleged account of what happened, according to police.
The detective added: “A video of the incident was received and the footage shows the defendant appearing to strike (the victim) on the head with an object in his right hand that shattered and fragments.”
Defence solicitor Joe Mulholland disclosed that Kennedy and the wounded man were previously close friends. He described it as “a completely bizarre incident” where his client allegedly became involved in a fracas he should have kept out of.
“It wasn’t a random attack where somebody just went berserk,” Mr Mulholland insisted.
Kennedy was granted bail under a strict prohibition on entering Newcastle.
Adjourning the case until March 31, District Judge George Conner also banned the accused from contacting the victim or making any reference to him on social media.
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