Derry man in court charged with possessing a Samurai sword with intent to commit murder

A man has appeared at Derry Magistrate's Court charged with possessing a Samurai sword with intent to commit murder.

Aaron Trevor Scott (36) of Claremont Street in Derry appeared charged with possessing the weapon on Sunday last, 13 October.
.
He was also charged with assaulting a female, attempting to choke her and criminal damage to her phone on the same date.

Connecting Scott to the charges, a PSNI officer said police were called following a report of a domestic violence incident.

The court heard the woman told police that after she received a text her partner, Scott, attacked her punching her in the face, threw a glass of water over her and hot her in the face with her phone.

She also alleged he smashed her phone then picked up a Samurai sword and threatened to kill her.

The woman claimed Scott returned and grabbed her by the neck and squeezed it for several minutes.

During police interviews, Scott said he had slapped the woman after an argument about the phone and he also accepted that water had been thrown.

He said he had the sword “for protection” but denied threatening her.

The police officer said the woman had swelling to her face.

Defence counsel, Eoghan Devlin, said he was not suggesting they were not serious charges but claimed it was “a one off.”

He said Scott had been given police bail after initially being arrested and had breached it by contacting the woman by text.

He said there was no domestic violence history between the pair and added while his client would accept the criminal damage charge he denied the more serious charges.

Scott was granted bail on condition he reside outside of Derry, have no contact with the woman, have no mobile phone and he is not to enter the city side of Derry.

He will appear again on 7 November.