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Murder trial end 'sprung upon us' 'Test evidence' demands family
(about 5 hours later)
The family of a west Belfast stabbing victim have said the ending of the trial of five men accused of his murder was "scandalous". The family of west Belfast man Gerard Devlin said they will challenge the move by prosecutors to end the murder trial by accepting lesser charges.
Gerard Devlin was killed outside his Ballymurphy home in February in 2006. Gerard Devlin, 39, was stabbed outside his Ballymurphy home in February 2006.
On Wednesday, one of the men accused pleaded guilty to manslaughter. The charges for the other four men were reduced to affray. On Wednesday, one of the men accused pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Four other men admitted a charge of affray.
"It was scandalous. We had no idea this deal was being struck," said Gerard Devlin's aunt Bernadette O'Rawe. "We are taking this decision to the Attorney General and wherever else until we have been heard," said Gerard Devlin's aunt Bernadette O'Rawe.
"It was sprung upon us. We believed they were being charged with murder. She said would have preferred the murder trial to continue, even if the six had been acquitted in the end because "at least we would have come away with the satisfaction that we were heard, that the evidence was tested".
"We are devastated as a family, it was disgraceful, we were bitterly, bitterly disappointed." On Wednesday the court heard that, since the father-of-six was killed outside his Ballymurphy home in 2006, there had been 1,162 incidents in the area.
The prosecution at Belfast Crown Court accepted the guilty plea of Francisco Notorantonio, 21, to manslaughter, affray and malicious wounding. The judge, Mr Justice Stephens, said: "There are tensions, there was a background and remains a background and there are concerns about the policing of the area between now and the sentencing of the accused."
His co-accused, Christopher Notorantonio, 56, Anthony Notorantonio, 50, William Notorantonio, 24, and Paul Burns, 26, pleaded guilty to affray. The six will be sentenced after probation reports have been completed.