Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Extradited man faces charge of killing mum
Murder accused to stay in custody
A MAN was remanded in custody yesterday after being extradited over the killing of a mother of three.
Raymond O’neill, 40, is facing charges of murder and arson endangering life in connection with Jennifer Dornan’s death in 2015.
The 30-year-old victim was found stabbed inside her burning home at Hazel View in the Lagmore area of West Belfast.
O’neill is also separately charged with the rape of another woman in 2003.
He was detained in the Republic under European Arrest Warrants in 2016.
Despite a series of legal challenges, an order was made for his extradition to Northern Ireland.
As O’neill, with a previous address at Amcomri Street in West Belfast, appeared before the city’s Magistrates Court in a wheelchair due to medical issues, prosecutors confirmed the charges of murder, arson and rape against him.
A preliminary enquiry hearing has been listed for next month, a judge was told.
Defence lawyer Paul Farrell acknowledged it was “an emotive case”.
He said: “It was a traumatic event and the allegations against him are very serious.”
But seeking bail, the lawyer claimed the accused is not forensically connected to the murder. Instead, he contended, only clothing and hairstyle evidence links O’neill to having allegedly entered Ms Dornan’s home. Mr Farrell also raised concerns over the separate allegations of rape now being made against O’neill.
The court heard an initial decision was taken not to prosecute in 2005, before a review more than a decade later.
Refusing bail District Judge Paul Copeland cited the potential for flight.
He added: “I direct his production for preliminary enquiry on December 4 here at Laganside Courts in Belfast.”