Belfast mother-of-one Mary Ward had been in a “tumultuous relationship” with her former partner and died as a result of a “laceration to her neck” at her home, a court has heard.
Ahmed Abdirahman (31) who was arrested in Dublin last month and charged with murdering the young woman on September 25th at her house on Melrose Street in south Belfast, was refused bail on Friday.
He was located in the city on October 9th and was remanded in custody two days later.
However, the accused, originally from Somalia, brought an application before Ms Justice Caroline Biggs at the High Court in Cloverhill, Dublin, to be released with rigorous conditions.
The judge noted that he had left the jurisdiction where the event allegedly occurred and had “no ties” to the Republic.
The hearing was told the accused attended Dublin’s Mater hospital on September 26th, a day after Ms Ward was last seen alive, with arm and leg injuries, saying he had fallen on broken glass.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) commenced a murder probe after the body of Ms Ward (22) was discovered on October 1st in her home.
The PSNI and An Garda Síochána conducted a joint investigation, and detectives attached to the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI) arrested Mr Abdirahman.
At his first District Court hearing two days later, the accused, who had used an address at Kinlay House, Dame St, Dublin 2, was remanded into prison custody. Det Sgt James King had said Mr Abdirahman’s reply to the charge was “not guilty”.
In the High Court on Friday, Det Sgt King objected to bail, citing flight risk concerns. He told Keith Branagan, for the State, that the accused travelled to Dublin by bus late on September 25th or on the morning of September 26th.
It was established the young mother died from “a laceration of the neck”, and a “bloodied broken piece of glass” was found at the crime scene.
He was arrested after using a Revolut card in a Dublin city centre shop. The court heard his account was linked to his phone which was allegedly found at Ms Ward’s home.
Messages downloaded by the PSNI showed they had a “tumultuous” relationship, but Ms Ward’s phone was not found.
The court was told the accused originally came to the Republic in 2019 and had residency status due to a family reunification process with a half-sibling who has citizenship in Ireland.
He had no prior convictions.
In her ruling, Ms Justice Biggs said she was satisfied that on the balance of probabilities, Mr Abdirahman would seek to evade justice if granted bail.
Under the Criminal Law (Jurisdiction) Act 1976, a person can be charged and tried in the Republic for offences allegedly committed in Northern Ireland.
Mr Abdirahman is due before the District Court again on November 15th.
