Murder bid charges are withdrawn against US honeymooner
AN American man accused of attempting to murder three men while in Northern Ireland on honeymoon has had the charges he faced withdrawn.
A prosecutor said the matter is to proceed by way of a report from the PSNI to the Public Prosecution Service.
The development regarding Nicholas Keith Warner (31), an electrical engineer from Summerville in South Carolina, came at Ballymena Magistrates Court.
He was excused from attending the court as he previously had his bail varied to allow him to return home.
Warner was originally charged after three men, one aged in his 60s and the others in their 30s, were allegedly stabbed in a disturbance outside a bar in Ballycarry, Co Antrim, on August 11 last year.
Warner had faced six charges including three of attempted murder; possessing a knife; assault occasioning actual bodily harm and causing affray.
At Ballymena Magistrates Court in September, District Judge Nigel Broderick allowed Warner to go back to South Carolina on condition that he lodge a £4,000 cash surety and surrender his passport to US police within three days.
The men were treated in hospital for stab wounds to the body.
The PPS said yesterday although the initial charges against the American honeymooner had been dropped, the PPS was currently considering a file from the PSNI about the incident.
“A decision on whether to prosecute Mr Warner over the incident, and what would be the appropriate charges for him to face, will issue in due course,” it said.
Mr Warner has denied all charges previously laid in connection with the Ballycarry incident and maintains he acted in self-defence.