Former GAA Star Fergal Doherty Charged with Manslaughter Over Portglenone Death

By Rebecca Black (PA)

A former GAA star has appeared in court charged with manslaughter over the death of a man in Co Antrim at the weekend.

Father-of-two Aaron Law, 34, was found with injuries on Main Street in the village of Portglenone in the early hours of Sunday.

He died later that day in Antrim Area Hospital.

Fergal Gerard Doherty, 41, of Main Street in Portglenone, appeared before Ballymena Magistrates’ Court sitting in Antrim on Thursday.

He faced one charge of manslaughter in relation to the death of Mr Law in Portglenone.

A detective sergeant told the court the incident had taken place after Mr Law was escorted from Pat’s Bar in the village, which is owned by Doherty.

Around 20-30 people had been in the bar on Saturday night going into the early hours of Sunday, including a stag party.

He said that Doherty and a member of door staff when approached by police at the scene denied having seen an assault take place.

But Doherty was arrested later that day and gave a full account of what happened, the officer said.

He said Doherty followed the member of door staff as they escorted Mr Law outside the bar, and intervened between the pair during what was described as a “verbal altercation”.

“This was in the middle of the road, Mr Law attempted to hit Mr Doherty and Mr Doherty reacted by punching Mr Law to the face causing Mr Law to fall back on to his head and his head connecting with the road,” the police officer told the court.

Mr Law was described as having been left lying in the middle of the road, where at one point a car had to brake to avoid colliding with him.

The police officer said a witness said Mr Law was lying on the road for between 10 to 15 minutes before Doherty and the door staff member returned, pulled him on to the footpath and propped him against the wall of the bar.

While the court was told there is CCTV evidence, it is from a distance and of low quality.

An ambulance was called at 1.08am.

Doherty was arrested shortly after Mr Law died in hospital at around 4.40pm on Sunday.

The officer said Doherty gave a full account of what happened during police interviews which has been corroborated by witnesses.

Police objected to bail, contending he is likely to reoffend, adding they are looking into reports of allegations of other assaults, and that there are witnesses to the weekend’s events that they have still to speak to.

Barrister Joe Brolly, acting for Doherty, objected to allegations of previous assaults being raised, saying “this is already a difficult situation where a young man has lost his life”.

He referred to “speculative incidents that haven’t been investigated”.

“It’s entirely prejudicial in the absence of any evidence that would be acceptable in a court of law,” he said.

Mr Brolly said it was a “clear case of self-defence”.

“Aaron Law threw a punch at him, and he threw one punch back at him and Mr Law fell back and hit his head,” he told the court, contending there is no evidence that contradicts Doherty’s account of what happened.

District Judge Nigel Broderick denied bail due to the live police investigation into serious allegations, that police were still to speak to some witnesses and that it is a small rural community.

The case is next to be mentioned on December 1.

(Aaron Law with his children Grace, 15 and Harry, 10)