Sion man threatened three-year-old child with knife, court hears

A TYRONE man allegedly held a knife to a three-year-old child’s throat after calling at his home for a drink of water, the High Court heard yesterday.

Simon McNulty is also accused of threatening to slice the boy’s mother and leave him without a parent.

The 25-year-old defendant denies brandishing a blade and claims he was invited to bring wine to the property in Strabane.

McNulty, of Lismore Grove in Sion Mills, faces charges of possessing an offensive weapon with intent to commit an indictable offence, threats to kill, common assault and assaulting PSNI officers called to the scene last month.

During a bail application the court heard a woman reported to police on July 15 that he was inside her house in the Orchard Street area with a knife.

Officers forced entry as she shouted for help and detained McNulty at the top of the stairs.

The woman and her young son were located in a bedroom, where a six-inch black handled knife was discovered lying on the floor.

“She was in an extreme state of shock and informed police the applicant had called at her home for a glass of water,” prosecution counsel said.

“She let him in and soon after he followed her upstairs.

“Whilst in the bedroom he put a knife to the throat of the three year-old.”

It was claimed that McNulty punched her a number of times after she pushed him away from the child.

“She then said he put the knife to her throat, saying he was going to slice it and leave her son with no mother,” the barrister added.

Amid further allegations that he was also carrying a razor blade, police observed a bump and cut on the woman’s forehead.

As McNulty was being put into a PSNI car he threatened to headbutt officers, according to the prosecution, kicking one of them on the wrist and spitting on the hand of another.

Counsel disclosed that the accused and alleged victim are only linked through a distant family connection.

“There is no intimate relationship between these parties, this is not a traditional domestic violence situation,” she added.

In interviews McNulty claimed the woman invited him to her home the previous day and asked him to bring alcohol.

He told police that he arrived with drink and cocaine, spent the night at the address and left the following day to get more alcohol and drugs.

When McNulty returned the woman allegedly became aggressive, but he insisted that at no point did he hold a knife to anyone’s throat.

He claimed that she sustained her injuries during a previous fall in the garden.

Seamus Lannon, defending, contended that the complainant sent his client a WhatsApp message asking him to bring wine to her house.

“That would be independent objective evidence that he didn’t turn up looking for a drink of water,” he submitted.

“If that resolves in his favour it fatally undermines a lot of other assertions made by the complainant.”

Mr Lannon also stressed that no razor was found at the property.

McNulty was granted bail based on the confirmation he is not in an ongoing relationship with the woman.

Ordering that £1,500 in cash sureties must be lodged before the accused is released from custody, Mr Justice Colton directed: “He is to have contact whatsoever with the complainant… and he is not to be within one mile of her home.”