Man remanded over murder of fisherman in Co Down

Jason Carr, from Castle Heights in the village, spoke only to confirm that he understood the two charges against him.

He is accused of attempted aggravated burglary at a property on Crew Hill Court in the fishing village with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm on Stefan Zait and with Mr Zait’s murder on May 22 this year.

Mr Zait, a 45-year-old Romanian national who has been living and working on fishing vessels in Ardglass for six years, suffered serious head injuries in an assault on Tuesday morning and died on Thursday.

He was attacked between 10.30am and 11.30am near the Downpatrick Road and Strangford Road in the village.

In court, Detective Sergeant Lewis testified that she believed she could connect Carr to each of the offences.

Defence barrister Sean Doherty told the court that, while Carr denies both offences, he was not applying for bail “out of respect for the family of the deceased”.

Having heard it was the defence and prosecution application for a three week adjournment, District Judge Prytherch remanded Carr into custody to appear at Downpatrick Magistrates’ Court via videolink on June 14.