Derry Court: Man with 68 previous convictions charged with axe attack

Derry Magistrate's Court heard today about an incident where a man and a woman were alleged to have broken into a property wielding an axe like weapon.

Joseph Patrick McDermott (38) of Creggan Road in Derry appeared charged with entering a premises as a trespasser with intent to commit grievous bodily harm on January 6 2023.

A police officer connected the accused to the charge and opposed bail. 

The court heard that police received a 999 call from a woman who said a man and woman had forced their way into her home and we're trying to attack her partner with an axe type weapon. 

When police arrived they found a back window smashed and blood on several locations in the property. 

The woman said she had heard a banging noise and looked out her window and saw a female entering her drive. 

She then realised the banging was coming from the back of her house and she then heard a smash and footsteps running up stairs. 

Her partner and herself, she told police, managed to block the door with a chest of drawers and she shouted she had phoned the police. 

The court heard that the woman's partner had swiped at the axe wielding person with a baseball bat and they had left the premises. 

The female who had entered the premises could be heard calling a name before she too left the property. 

The officer told the court that DNA from some of the blood matched the defendant's. 

At interview he made no comment throughout. 

Bail was opposed due to the risk of re-offending as the officer said McDermott had 68 previous convictions three of them for serious assaults. 

Defence solicitor Seamus Quigley said that his client did not have 'a particularly bad bail history'. 

District Judge Barney McElholm said that this incident appeared to be 'motivated by a desire to commit violence rather than robbery.' 

He said that the perpetrator tried to break into a bedroom but then at interview refused to say anything. 

The judge said that the motive behind the incident was unclear but there was still the female at large and McDermott had not co-operated. 

Mr Quigley said that the right to silence could be 'a double edged sword' and if you exercise that right you 'take the consequences'. 

Judge McElholm said that 'senseless violence was getting worse' and added that this case was 'very worrying'. 

He added that 'there was still someone out there' who was a risk to the alleged victims. 

He refused bail and remanded McDermott in custody to appear again on June 8.