A man accused of trying to kill his girlfriend by striking her on the head with a hatchet is to be released from custody, a High Court judge ruled has ruled.
Stephen Kennedy was granted bail on a charge of attempting to murder the woman at his blood-soaked flat in east Belfast.
The 43-year-old defendant claims she fell on the axe by accident during a row over drugs.
Kennedy, of Montrose Street, faces a further count of possessing an offensive weapon with intent in connection with the incident on February 29 this year.
Police and paramedics called to the scene discovered the badly injured woman lying in a communal lift area at the apartment block.
A previous court heard strike marks on her body and two deep open wounds to her head are believed to have been inflicted by a bladed weapon.
Significant amounts of blood were observed around the elevator, stairwell and in the corridor leading to Kennedy’s flat.
He was standing outside the building, bare chested and with blood smeared over his face, hands and back, according to the prosecution.
Kennedy denied any intimate relationship with the woman who is understood to be from the Craigavon area.
He described her as a friend staying with him while in Belfast for a hospital appointment, claiming she became angry when he refused a request to get some drugs.
Kennedy told police she knocked over furniture during a subsequent argument, causing a hatchet in the property to accidentally strike her.
The alleged victim sustained a number of fractures to her head and required nine stitches for two laceration wounds.
In her account to police, she claimed Kennedy became violent when he returned to the flat from being out drinking.
He allegedly grabbed the woman by the hair and struck her head off a wall amid attempts to hide under a table.
Kennedy dragged her back out before producing an object with a silver sharp edge out of a box stored in the apartment, according to her statement.
As she tried to flee he allegedly struck her with a hatchet or axe, hitting her a number of times on the back of the head.
At one point she used Kennedy’s television as a shield while he was swinging the axe, according to her version of events.
She said she managed to crawl out of the apartment, making it to the bottom of the lift when police arrived.
In court on Thursday Crown counsel Sarah Minford contended phone evidence contradicts Kennedy’s claims the woman was not his partner.
“There are messages and intimate videos which support this being a relationship, it does appear to be domestic offending,” she submitted.
Citing delays in the case, defence barrister Michael Boyd confirmed his client has now obtained an alternative address in north Belfast.
“He is genuinely desperate to be released because he has re-established contact with his two young children,” Mr Boyd said.
“That is his prime motive, to see them regularly and be as good a father as he can be.”
Based on the change of circumstances, Mr Justice O’Hara granted bail to Kennedy under strict conditions aimed at keeping him away from the alleged victim.
“I’m not for one minute trying to get away from the fact that the allegations (against him) are very serious indeed,” the judge stressed.
“He is to be excluded from Craigavon entirely… and there is to be an alcohol ban.”