Bail has been refused to a 25-year-old Portadown man accused of the attempted murder of a two-year-old girl in Bessbrook last October.
Darren Eamon Fagan, appeared via videolink from Maghaberry, before Newry Magistrates’ Court.
A detective constable told the court the accused, from Clonavon, had an extensive history of domestic violence.
He also told the court that Fagan had a previous conviction for assaulting the 20-month-old child of a former partner.
Fagan was arrested shortly after a two-year-old girl in Bessbrook was rushed to hospital after an incident at her home.
The little girl had sustained multiple skull fractures.
Fagan appeared at Banbridge Magistrates’ Court within days charged with attempted murder.
He had been arrested and was formally charged after police had been granted an extension to question him.
The police had initially appealed for witnesses to an altercation or anyone who had noticed anything suspicious in the area of Charlemont Square East, at around 7.45pm on Sunday, October 19, to come forward.
At the original court hearing where he was first charged, a detective inspector had accused Fagan of lying and changing his story on a number of occasions during the interview process.
The detective inspector had told the court that an expert neurologist had confirmed that the toddler’s skull had been so badly fractured that it would suggest a blunt trauma injury.
No application had been made for bail at that hearing.
But this week bail was denied to Fagan, who is denying the charge.
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