Defence barristers acting on behalf of three men accused of murdering Ian Ogle have launched legal applications that their clients had “no case to answer”.
Mr Ogle, a 45-year old father-of-two, was beaten and stabbed 11 times yards from his Cluan Place home in January 2019.
It’s the Crown’s case that two minutes before the attack, CCTV from a Glider bus on Albertbridge Road captured a group of five men walking towards Cluan Place - and that these five were involved in the fatal assault.
In February, Jonathan Brown (38) from Whinney Hill in Dundonald and 45-year old Mark Sewell of of Glenmount Drive in Newtownabbey were handed life sentences after they pleaded guilty to murder.
Three men are standing trial at Belfast Crown Court.
They are Glenn Rainey (38) whose address was given as Ballyhalbert Caravan Park, Walter Irvine (43) from Litchfield Street in Belfast and 41-year old Robert Spiers from Millars Park in Dundonald. All three deny the murder charge.
After a prosecuting barrister closed the Crown’s case, barristers for Rainey, Irvine and Spiers all launched “no case to answer” applications on the grounds there was insufficient evidence to proceed any further.
Greg Berry KC, representing Rainey, branded the case against this client as "circumstantial" and said there was no evidence to place his client at the murder scene.
Saying "this is, at its core, an identification case", Mr Berry told Mr Justice McFarland the Crown had failed to identify Rainey as one of the five men captured on CCTV.
Richard Weir KC, representing Ervine, also told the senior judge that the Crown had failed to place his client at the murder scene.
Kieron Mallon KC, for Spiers, said the Crown has failed to provide both a motive for his client’s involvement and any evidence that he was present.
Mr Justice McFarland adjourned the non-jury trial until September 2.