Hi °C | Lo °C A Strabane man has denied providing a house for terrorist purposes after a photograph of armed paramilitaries holding an alleged drug dealer hostage appeared in a newspaper.
James Edward McGettigan appeared in the dock of Belfast Crown Court yesterday where he pleaded not guilty to providing a house on the Derry Road in the Co Tyrone town for a terrorist purpose on dates between May 22 and 25, 2010.
The 47-year-old is facing a charge understood to have arisen after a photograph of armed paramilitaries holding an alleged drug dealer hostage in a cellar was published in the Strabane Chronicle.
During an earlier court appearance, it was claimed that McGettigan, from the Urney Road in Strabane, looks similar to one of five masked and armed men in the photograph who were standing around a hooded and bound suspected dealer.
An accompanying article contained a warning from a group calling themselves Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD), threatening punishment to “death dealers”.
McGettigan was arrested in February last year after police searched a house with a cellar in Strabane, but was not charged until forensic evidence was available.
Yesterday, Judge Tom Burgess released McGettigan on continuing bail and said he would fix a date for his two to three-day trial once witness availability has been ascertained.
