Limavady man in court accused of threatening to burn neighbour out of her home

A Limavady man who allegedly threatened to burn his neighbour out of her home appeared before court this morning.

Samuel Millar, of Windsor Avenue, appeared via videolink before Antrim Magistrates' Court, sitting in Ballymena.

The 33 year-old is charged with making threats to kill a female on August 10.

Millar is further accused on the same date of threatening to damage or destroy a house belonging to the same woman.

He is also accused of tampering with a motor vehicle and unlawfully and maliciously attempting to cause by an explosive substance, namely a petrol bomb, an explosion of a nature likely to endanger life or to cause serious injury to property.

These offences are alleged to have been committed on August 10 also.

The court heard that police were contacted after 10am on Sunday following a report that an unexploded petrol bomb had been found outside a property in the Windsor Avenue area of Limavady.

Officers attended and located the item - a glass bottle containing petrol with charred kitchen roll stuffed into the neck of the bottle.

A woman told police that she had been having an issue with Millar, her neighbour, as she had approached him at 5am that morning to ask him to turn down loud music that he was playing.  She stated that Millar had told her to ‘f**k off’ however he hadn’t issued any threats to her.

Another neighbour approached police and claimed that Millar had threatened to burn her and her dog out of their home.  She said she had also caught him tampering with her car’s window wipers.

Millar was arrested and during the interview he replied ‘no comment’ to all the questions, the court heard.

The defendant's solicitor Sam Barr said there was no evidence to connect his client to the petrol bomb found outside the property.

However District Judge Nigel Broderick stated that it was a ‘circumstantial case’.

Judge Broderick released Millar on his own bail of £500 and a surety of £500 to reside at his mother’s address.

As part of his bail conditions, Millar is not to have any contact with any witnesses in the case and is not allowed near Windsor Avenue.  He is to observe a curfew between the hours of 10pm and 7am and is to present himself to police when required.  In addition, Millar is not to consume alcohol or be on licensed premises and must submit to a preliminary breath test if asked to do so.