Lurgan man Odhran Kelly died following 'extremely violent' assault, court is told

Craigavon Magistrates Court also heard that despite CCTV showing he was in the Edward Street flat where 23-year-old Odhran was beaten to death for 97 minutes, 32-year-old Shane Harte denies seeing the victim at any stage.

A detective sergeant revealed that 50 minutes after Harte leaves the flat, CCTV footage allegedly captures his co-accused Gary Scullion, 31, and two women carrying the body of Mr Kelly from the flat.

Harte applied for bail on Friday but District Judge Francis Rafferty refused, citing concerns about the risk of further offences and the alleged killer interfering with the investigation.

As he announced his decision, grieving relatives in the public gallery of the court clapped.

Lurgan men Harte, from Headington House and Scullion, from Edward Street, are in custody charged with the murder of Mr Kelly on December 3 last year.

Three women - 43-year-old Andrea Stevenson, 36-year-old Stephanie McClelland and Crystal Angela Redden (30) – also faces charges arising from the death.

Stevenson, from Edward Street in Lurgan and McClelland from Shan Slieve, also in Lurgan, both face a single charge of assisting an offender by removing the body of Mr Kelly while Redden, from Garland Avenue in Lurgan, is accused of perverting justice in that in on December 7 last year, she made a false statement “with intent to pervert the course of justice.”

The court has previously heard how police discovered the “badly burnt body” of the nursing assistant after they were called to a car on fire on Edward Street just after 4am on December 3.

Officers called at the last registered address, Stevenson’s flat on Edward Street, but on their way they spotted a “large amount of blood” on the door of Scullion’s flat opposite the property and when they went inside, officers discovered blood covered beer bottles, “a signifiant amount of congealed blood, drug paraphernalia, a large amount of cash and gloves with blood on them.”

When officers went into Stevenson’s flat it “smelled strongly of bleach” and they found Scullion, dressed in just his boxer shorts, sitting in the kitchen where there was “clothing and blood stained washing in the washing machine”.

In court on Friday, the detective sergeant said officers were confronted by what “could only be described as an horrific scene” and it was clear that “an horrific attack had taken place” in the property.

While focusing mainly on Harte, she gave further details about the timings revolving around people’s movements during that early morning, describing how Harte, wearing a distinctive red puffa-style jacket, was seen entering at 00:08 and he stayed for 20 minutes before leaving.

Mr Kelly arrived at 1.14am and half an hour later at 1.45am, Harte was seen entering the flat again, said DS Weir, adding that from phone calls made by Stevenson from 3.05am to 3.14am, “that’s when we believe there’s been a fight” as she told people “there had been a fight and a disturbance.”

"At this time from the footage, we believe that the deceased, Shane Harte and Gary Scullion are all in the flat,” said the officer.

Harte leaves again at 3.21am and 24 minutes later, Scullion and a woman leave the flat and the detective told the court “we believe that is when they start to make preparations to remove Mr Kelly from the flat - we believe that he is deceased at this time.”

"At 4.11am, that is where we see Mr Kelly being removed from the property by a male and two females who are all now charged,” said the detective.

Turning to police enquiries relating to Harte, the officer told the court there was evidence that Harte had a 57-second phone call with a witness who was seen at the flats at 3.23am but during police interviews, Harte “denied knowing this person”.

The police also had evidence, the court heard, that the day after the brutal killing the defendant and his girlfriend went to Galway, booking a hotel while on route and also that Harte bought clothes at a shopping centre.

Highlighting that police have not yet found the red puffa jacket Harte was wearing on the night of the murder, the detective said police believed he bought clothes to replace the clothing he was wearing at the time.

The detective did concede that Harte came back to Northern Ireland voluntarily and did surrender himself but she revealed that after he was charged and while he was in custody, an unknown person “performed a factory reset on his mobile phone” which deleted data stored on it.

Turning to objections to bail, the detective described how “Odhran Kelly was murdered in the early hours of December 3, we believe in a prolonged, violent assault using weapons that caused fatal injuries”.

"He was found in a position where he was unable to defend himself or call for help and we firmly believe that this defendant is linked to the murder,” said the officer, describing the attack as “extremely violent”.

Claiming that Harte is a “dangerous individual,” she told the court that police were concerned about him committing further offences, absconding again or interfering with either witnesses or the administration of justice.

During cross examination, defence counsel David McKeown suggested to the detective and she agreed, that “police believe” Mr Kelly had been murdered while Harte was in the flat and although she also agreed there was no forensic evidence linking Harte to the flat, the officer added that investigators are awaiting results from the forensics lab.

Conceding that “this is obviously a serious case,” he submitted that the evidence against Harte “is probably the weakest” of those charged, so with a proposed bail address well outside of the area “he is a suitable candidate for bail and he can be managed with appropriate conditions”.

DJ Rafferty asked if the defence team had taken instructions on where the puffa jacket might be but Mr Mckeown said he had not and when the judge followed that query up by asking who had performed the factory reset on his mobile phone, the barrister told him “that’s the first we have heard that”.

Refusing to grant bail, the judge said given the background and police concerns that Harte “is not a suitable candidate for bail”.

Remanding the alleged killer into custody, he adjourned the cases against all the defendants to March 1.