Men threatened to 'cut off woman's fingers' during burglary ordeal in Moira: man appears in court

Two burglars held a knife to the hand of a female householder and threatened to cut her fingers off, a court heard on Tuesday.

Armagh Magistrates’ Court, siting in Newry, also heard that as the men left the victim’s home, “they said they were LVF and that if she contacted police they would return and burn the house down”.

Appearing at court by video-link from police custody was 50-year-old Stephen McIlwaine, from Norglen Parade in west Belfast.

He confirmed that he understood the charges that accused him of aggravated burglary of the property on Castlevue Park in Moira where he was allegedly armed with a knife and stole various items including cash, jewellery, watches, aftershave, perfume, nine pairs of Nike trainers, a Canada Goose body warmer, dog leads, an Xbox and a mobile phone.

McIlwaine was also charged with threatening to destroy the house on July 20 and two further charges of theft and criminal damage to an electronic monitoring tag between June 3 and July 24.

A detective constable said he believed he could connect McIlwaine to the charges and that police were objecting to bail due to concerns of further offences.

He outlined how the woman had been at home when he doorbell rang just after 7.30pm, and believing it was her partner whom she was expecting, “she called for the person to come in”.

But she was then confronted, allegedly by McIlwaine, “demanding to know where the money was kept”.

According to the victim, he was “carrying a dog lead, wrapping it around his hands” and when she told him there was no money, “he began to ransack the property”.

At some point a second, younger male with his face covered came in and also demanded to know where the money was kept.

“The first male held down her arm and the second male took a knife and threatened to cut her fingers off,” said the detective.

The following day the victim “got a phone call from a lady with a Chinese accent” and an “abusive” voicemail message and the numbers used led police to two properties on Norglen Parade, McIlwaine’s home and another property.

During searches a Canada Goose body warmer, perfume and aftershave matching those taken from the property were retrieved as well as an army-style jacket allegedly worn by one of the burglars.

Arrested and interviewed, McIlwaine refused to answer police questions and also refused to take part in a police identity parade.

Defence counsel Richard McConkey submitted that with the case likely to take upwards of a year to come to a conclusion, McIlwaine could be freed with a package of stringent conditions, but District Judge Anna Marshall said the risk of further offences was too great.

“There are no conditions I can put in place to address the risk,” said the judge who remanded McIlwaine into custody and adjourned the case to August 21.