THREE men allegedly brandished hurley bats in a fight that broke out after a road traffic collision outside Bellanaleck at the weekend in which a woman was seriously injured, a court has heard.

The trio, who have all been remanded in custody, told police that they were being pursued across the Border by a large green Audi when their Ford Focus was involved in the crash with the woman’s vehicle on Sunday evening.

They further claimed that, after the collision, the occupants of the chasing car had attacked them with weapons, including a shovel and a sawn-off shotgun, and they had retaliated in self-defence. Their alleged attackers then made off before police arrived at the scene.

Meanwhile, the woman, who sustained a fractured sternum in the crash, was taken to the South West Acute Hospital for treatment.

The three co-accused – John Sweeney (44), of Gort Aoibhan, Liscarra, Carrick on Shannon, County Leitrim, Kieron Whelan (32), of Glenpatrick, Carrick on Shannon, Roscommon, and Gerard Mooney (35), of Castlehill, Castleree, Roscommon – were all brought before Omagh Magistrates Court on Tuesday afternoon.

The three appeared for a bail application in their case – which was refused by district judge Bernie Kelly.

They are each charged with possession of an offensive weapon, namely a hurley bat, in a public place, namely Main Street, Bellanaleck, on June 7 this year.

Sweeney, the alleged driver of the Ford Focus estate in which they were travelling, is further charged with causing grievous bodily injury to Anne Burley by dangerous driving, using a motor vehicle without insurance and fraudulent use of an insurance certificate.

A PSNI officer told the court that he believed he could connect all three defendants to the charges.

Outlining the circumstances of their arrest, the officer said that, at 9.15pm on Sunday evening, police were tasked to the report of an injury road traffic collision. Witnesses stated that an “ongoing affray” involving people armed with hurley bats had broken out after the accident.

Police attended the scene and it was ascertained that the vehicle in which the defendants had been travelling had failed to take a corner and then collided with the woman’s car.

An injury had been caused to the lady driver and she was “under close monitoring” in the South West Acute Hospital, the police officer told the court.

He said that witnesses reported seeing people from another vehicle that was allegedly following the defendants engaging in “some sort of fight” in the road subsequent to the collision. The policeman added that this vehicle had allegedly disappeared before the arrival of the PSNI.

A Public Prosecution Service (PPS) representative told the court that the trio had claimed to police that they had been pursued by the large green Audi from Blacklion in County Cavan.

Applying for bail, defending solicitor Myles McManus stressed that witnesses had stated that the vehicle being driven by Sweeney was being “chased” by a southern registered Audi.

Questioning why the trio had crossed the border, district judge Mrs Kelly observed that they had “no need” to be driving in the north, adding: “Could they not have found a Garda station in the south?” After she said that they “chose deliberately to bring this north”, Mr McManus replied that it had been a “conscious decision” to cross the border, as there was no garda station in Blacklion.

With the judge observing that the case was “becoming more concerning with each passing moment”, the solicitor told the court that his clients claimed they had been chased from near Loughan House, a low security detention facility in the Blacklion area, and that weapons, including a sawn-off shotgun, had been produced by the occupants of the other vehicle.

Upon hearing this, the judge asked what two cars “tooled up to the teeth” were doing outside a detention facility on a Sunday afternoon.

Mr McManus alleged that Whelan had been knocked down during the incident and received treatment at the South West Acute Hospital. He further alleged that the other two individuals had been attacked by someone wielding a shovel and had then acted in “self-defence”.

After he began to suggest that they were “genuinely the victims” in this situation, Mrs Kelly responded that the woman undergoing medical treatment was the actual injured party in the case.

The solicitor told the court that his clients had instructed him that they had “no idea” who their alleged assailants were, but had managed to get a partial number plate of the Audi.

Outlining prosecution concerns over bail being granted, the PPS representative said that a number of tools and other items had been found in the Ford Focus estate that the defendants had been travelling in, including a screwdriver, hammer, pliers and a beanie hat.

He added that they all had previous records in the Republic of Ireland and it had emerged during interview that Sweeney had posed as a different person to purchase the Ford Focus.

Refusing bail for each defendant, the judge observed that she had been told by the prosecution that they had used different identities in the Republic of Ireland. She added that the case before the court could be “merely the tip of the iceberg”.

Mrs Kelly then remanded the three men in custody to appear before Fermanagh Magistrates Court on Monday, June 22. She also told them that they could appeal her decision to refuse bail in the High Court.