Accused of jumping on another man's head after random city centre encounter

William Millar is accused of launching an attack on the other man at Donegall Place in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Millar, with an address at Centenary House hostel in the city, appeared at Belfast Magistrates’ Court charged with attempted grievous bodily harm.

CCTV operators directed police to the scene of a suspected ongoing assault at around 3am. A PSNI constable said officers found the injured man hunched over with blood coming from his nose and swelling to his face.

Camera footage showed him walking to Donegall Place, where he was allegedly elbowed and knocked to the ground by Millar.

“The defendant can be seen punching him to the head and raising his foot as high as he could to stamp on his head multiple times while he lay defenceless,” the constable told the court.

A second, unidentified, man was said to have joined in the assault on the prone victim.

Opposing Millar’s application for bail, the officer contended: “It appears to have been an unprovoked attack.”

Defence solicitor John McAtamney described it as an “unsavoury” incident which may have involved alcohol.

“They don’t seem to be known to each other, it appears to have been a completely random encounter,” he told the court.

Millar was granted bail to live under curfew at Centenary House.

Adjourning the case until August 16, Judge Noel Dunlop imposed an alcohol prohibition and banned the defendant from any contact with the injured party.