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An American on honeymoon in Ireland has appeared in court facing attempted murder charges.

The 31-year-old, who together with his wife arrived in Dublin last week, appeared at Limavady Magistrate’s Court charged with attempting to murder three men, two of them aged in their 30s and one aged in his 60s.

The three men each sustained stabbing injuries in an incident outside a bar at Main Street in the Co Antrim village of Ballycarry last Saturday night.

In court charged was Nicholas Keith Warner, an electrical engineer from Morrow Lane in Summerville, South Carolina.

He denies attempting to murder the three men and he also denies assaulting a fourth man. The defendant further denies causing an affray but he admits possessing a knife.

The defendant, who sustained a broken leg in the incident, was helped by two police officers as he walked on crutches from a cell van on Main Street, Limavady, into the courthouse for his remand appearance.

His wife Kaylee, a nurse also from South Carolina, sat behind her husband as he sat in the dock during the hearing.

When asked by the court clerk if he understood the charges, the defendant replied “yes mam”.

A detective constable told Deputy District Judge Ted Magill that he believed he could connect the defendant to the charges and he said alcohol was an issue in the case.

Defence solicitor David Jones told the court that bail conditions proposed by the police and by the Public Prosecution Service were acceptable to the defendant.

“He accepts he was the individual who caused the injuries. From the moment of his arrest prior to his interviews he accepted he possessed the knife to defend himself”, Mr Jones said.

“This case will come down to the argument of reasonable force or otherwise and because he is a US citizen I would request that if possible the case could be fast tracked. It is regrettable in that he is here on his honeymoon and his employment as an electrical engineer is now is jeopardy”, Mr Jones added.

The defendant was released on his own bail of £1,000 to appear at Ballymena Magistrate’s Court on September 6.

As part of his agreed bail conditions he was ordered to hand over his passport to the PSNI, to observe an 8pm to 11am curfew and to reside only at a bail address approved by the PSNI.

The defendant, who will also be electronically tagged, was further ordered not to leave Northern Ireland and not to contact any of the injured parties nor any other witnesses in the case.

He must also maintain an absolute ban from both possessing and consuming alcohol and he must agree to carrying out a preliminary breath test if asked to do so by the police.

An additional bail condition is that the defendant must not enter within the 30mph zone around the village of Ballycarry.

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