A reputed Irish Republican Army veteran was arraigned Saturday on a charge he murdered a Catholic man, a killing that has overshadowed Northern Ireland's peace process and fueled an exceptional public campaign by the victim's sisters. Amid heavy police security, Terence "Jock" Davison, 49, offered no plea as prosecutors accused him of killing Robert McCartney, who was stabbed in the neck and stomach and bludgeoned with iron bars outside a Belfast pub on Jan. 30.McCartney's five sisters, who led a four-month international campaign highlighting the IRA's alleged destruction of evidence and intimidation of witnesses, sat in the public gallery not far from the family and friends of Davison. One of Davison's alleged IRA accomplices, 36-year-old James McCormick, was charged with the attempted murder of McCartney's friend Brendan Devine. McCormick, who also offered no plea, had been arrested Wednesday in Birmingham in England.
Detective Chief Inspector Kevin Dunwoody testified that both men denied the charges while in custody Friday night. But Dunwoody said he was confident that two witness statements against both men, as well as forensic evidence against McCormick, would help to connect both to the charges. The judge, Harry McKibbin, ordered Davison and McCormick imprisoned without bail until their next scheduled court date, July 1.