Father and son accused of attempted murder machete attack in Co Down

Downpatrick Magistrates Court heard how the victim was struck with such force by the two foot long bladed weapon, he suffered broken bones as well as lacerations, including having part of a finger amputated.

Appearing at court by video link from police custody, Brendan Richard Rice (60) and his 30-year-old son, also Brendan, were jointly charged with two offences, alleged to have been committed on 21 June this year.

Rice Snr, from Bunkers Hill in Castlewellan and Rice Jnr, with an address at Cairn Grove in Motherwell, are jointly charged with attempted murder and possessing a weapon, namely a machete, with intent to commit attempted murder.

During a contested application for bail, a detective outlined how a member of the public alerted the police after they found the severely injured victim on Tipperary Lane in Newcastle.

Officers attended and spoke to the victim and outlining how the injured man is the partner of the Rice’s daughter and sister respectively, the detective said he named Rice Snr as his alleged assailant.

The victim told police he’d had an argument with his partner on Saturday morning but had then gone drinking with Rice Jnr in the afternoon.

According to the victim, Rice Jnr suggested going to the shop to buy cigarettes but on the way, a masked man emerged from the bushes, holding what the victim described as a sword “with a brown handle, about two foot long.”

Rice Snr allegedly “swung it at his head” and the victim raised his right arm in an effort to protect himself, said the officer, adding that the assailant continued to strike him with it while the pair were shouting at him about abusing his partner.

The officer told the court the victim believes that Rice Jnr had contacted his father as they left the pub so that he could lie in wait.

Outlining how the victim sustained fractures to an arm and a leg such was the “ferocity” of the blows, as well as having the top of a finger amputated, the officer said the injuries “are not life threatening but they are life changing.”

Police have not yet been able to take a formal statement from the victim as he was undergoing surgery when police attended at the hospital.

The court also heard that in the aftermath of the incident, officers received a report of a silver vehicle “throwing clothes into a hedge” and when police attended, they found blood-stained clothing which has since been sent for tests.

The defendants were both arrested but refused to answer police questions during interviews.

Turning to objections to bail, the officer said police were concerned about further offending as well as witness interference, given the fact the father and son know the victim and where he lives.

Defence solicitor Seamus Delaney emphasised that the allegations “will be strenuously defended” but added that given the police enquiries will have to include examinations of phones and forensic tests, that will take significant time.

Although he submitted that both men could be granted bail, with stringent conditions, District Judge Amanda Brady said that with the investigation in the early stages, “I think it is premature to grant bail.”

She ruled that while Mr Delaney had made every possible point he could in favour of bail, her view was that “there is a risk of further offending.”

Refusing bail, the father and son were remanded into custody to appear again on 3 July.