A man has appeared in court charged with five offences over a car bomb attack on a police station near Belfast.
A hijacked delivery car exploded outside Dunmurry police station last Saturday night as homes were being evacuated.
Kieran Smyth, 66, with an address at Beechmount Avenue in Belfast, appeared before Lisburn Magistrates’ Court on Saturday charged with a number of offences in relation to the incident, including the attempted murder of persons unknown.
The other offences are compelling a person to use a vehicle for an unlawful purpose; possessing explosives with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury to property; the possession of articles, namely a SIM card and phone, for use in an act of terrorism; and causing an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property.
Outlining a “truncated” version of the “extensive” investigation, a detective inspector told the court a delivery driver from a Chinese restaurant was threatened on Saturday night by two males after arriving in the Summerhill Park area in Twinbrook.
A bomb was put in the back of his car and the driver was told he had 30 minutes to get to Dunmurry police station before the bomb would go off.
When he arrived at the station, he raised the alarm, the court heard.
The detective outlined evidence to the court that a £10 top-up was purchased for the same number that rang the Chinese restaurant that Saturday at a Centra retail store on Beechmount Avenue.
He said the next transaction on the machine was a £20 top-up of a Monzo bank account linked to Smyth.
He said police had also obtained CCTV footage from the location and the male who appears to carry out those transactions – who he said can be seen wearing a green hoodie with “Brazil” written on it – was identified as Smyth by two police officers.
Phoenix Law’s Gavin Booth, representing Smyth, said there had been a “case of overcharging” and argued that all charges bar possession of a SIM should be dropped.
He said the “height of what they could say is Mr Smyth bought top-up for a phone”.
The judge said she was satisfied there was enough evidence to connect the defendant to the charges.
There was no application for bail and an application for legal aid was granted.
The case is next before Lisburn Magistrates’ Court on Monday May 18th where Smyth is due to appear via videolink.
