Residents in Weavers Grange in Newtownards are living “in fear for their lives” after half a dozen incidents of intimidation where shotgun cartridges have been left outside their homes, a court heard on Thursday.
Newtownards Magistrates Court also heard that many of the people who now live in the Weavers Grange estate are too frightened “to put anything on paper.”
Appearing in the dock charged with intimidation and possessing shotgun cartridges without a certificate on 18 March this year was 36-year-old Brett Sutcliffe, from Trasnagh Drive in the town.
Giving evidence during a contested application for bail, a detective constable told the court that a partial DNA profile was recovered as a 12 gauge shotgun cartridge left outside a property on Weavers Grange.
Forensic tests established that partial profile, she told District Judge Francis Rafferty, had odds of “one in one billion” of coming from someone other than Sutcliffe.
Revealing that the resident had since moved out and left their home, the officer described how there had been six incidents in the last five months and that each time, “the modus operandi is the same, the cartridges are the same and the residents are extremely fearful.”
“The residents in that area are in fear for their lives,” declared the detective, adding that police were objecting to Sutcliffe being granted bail due to fears of witness interference and a risk of him committing further offences.
Defence solicitor Patrick Higgins said:
“There are no witnesses who put him at the scene, no CCTV to put him at the scene and there is no other evidence that can put him at the scene,” said the solicitor, adding that the partial DNA profile on the cartridge was found on a “movable object.”
He told DJ Rafferty the cartridges are commonly used for shooting game such as pigeons, grouse or pheasants and although the judge asked whether Sutcliffe “is a pheasant handler,” Mr Higgins told him “I have not taken instructions on that.”
“I’m going to grant bail,” Judge Rafferty told Mr Higgins, ordering that Sutcliffe can be freed on his own bail of £250 with conditions that he lives in a police approved address, observes a curfew and stays out of Ards.
The case was adjourned to 10 July.