Four men have appeared in a special court in Ballymena charged with attempted murder after an eleven-year-old girl was shot during a surge in feuding by rival Protestant paramilitaries. Magistrate Richard Wilson ordered the suspects to be kept in custody pending another court session on 28 September. Schoolgirl Charlene Daly was seriously wounded on Monday when gunmen in Coleraine fired at her parents' home in a housing development that had been the scene of previous incidents.
The court heard that Samuel Bolton, aged 27, Thomas Dunbar, aged 36, and Philip McKergan, 23, all from Coleraine in County Derry, said that they were not guilty when formally arrested earlier at Ballymena police station. A police witness said that John Hazlett, aged 29, from Limavady, replied that he deeply regretted his actions in answer to the charge. The child who suffered broken ribs and other injuries has since been released from hospital.
