Man in court over Paul McCauley murder
A man has appeared in court charged with murder following a “brutal, sectarian” attack which left a victim in a vegetative state for nine years.
Piper John McClements, 24, from the Fountain Estate in Derry, was granted bail at Derry Magistrates’ Court.
Paul McCauley, a 38-year-old Catholic, spent almost a decade in care after he was attacked by loyalists at a barbecue in the Waterside area of Derry in July 2006.
He died in a home last month.
District judge John Meehan said: “This is a matter of acute public concern, one of the most brutal, sectarian attacks in a long catalogue.”
The accused, who was arrested in Derry’s Fountain estate on Thursday, was formerly known as Daryl Proctor.
He appeared in the dock wearing a hoodie, handcuffed and flanked by a police officer. Members of his family were in the public gallery.
Police stepped up the investigation into the attack in the wake of Mr McCauley’s death.
The father-of-one was 29 when he attended the barbecue at Chapel Road for a friend who was moving away from the North.
A gang of up to 15 people emerged from nearby bushes and attacked him and two of his friends as they were clearing up after the meal in the early hours of the morning. He sustained severe head injuries.
Mr McCauley’s family has pursued a long campaign for justice.
