A man has appeared in court in Derry in connection with a weekend attack in Derry’s Bayview Terrace which left one man dead and a second critically ill in a Belfast Hospital.

The dead man was 49 year old Paddy Harkin, the injured man was 39 year old Paul Mythen, who has an address at Leck Cottages in Letterkenny. The attack happened at around 1.30 yesterday morning.

Shortly after 12 noon today, a 46 year old man appeared in Derry Magistrates Court as police sought more time to question him about a suspected murder and attempted murder.

Local journalist Eamonn Mc Dermott was in court……….

Meanwhile, police in Derry have eased restrictions into Bayview Terrace as investigations continue into the incident.

A number of businesses and offices including the Bayview Medical Centre were forced to close for a time but they have since reopened.

The Donegal branch of Claiming our Future will host a discussion and debate with all the Donegal North East election candidates in Letterkenny tonight.

The event in the Mount Errigal Hotel is being run in conjunction with the East Donegal Forum.

Organiser Annette Patton says it’s clear that while candidates have a local focus, the best way to ensure a better future for Donegal is to tackle the national economic and governance issues which are threatening to cripple the country………………

National Football League Division Two Results.
Tyrone 0-06 v 1-10 Donegal
Kildare 0-11 v 0-13 Derry

Manager Jim Mc Guinness speaking with Myles Gallagher on Sunday Sport after Donegal’s win over Tyrone.
 

On Saturday night in Omagh, Donegal took their first win of the Division Two league campaign and as a result Tyrone are still looking for their first points of the year. Donegal dominated the second half at Healy Park with sub Dermott Molloy scoring the games only goal in the 39^th minute. It was an impressive and encouraging performance from the Tir Chonaill men who after the second series of matches sit third in the standings. For Tyrone who lead 4-1 in the first half, this was a poor performance as the side managed just one score in the second thirty five minutes. Having lost to Derry in the opening match Mickey Harte’s side are now facing a huge task if promotion back to Division One is to be achieved this year.

Derry who beat Kildare on Sunday share top spot in Division Two with Laois. John Brennan’s side recovered from a poor start in Newbridge to take their second win of the competition. Conleth Gilligan was instrumental for Derry bagging seven points three of them from frees. Paddy Bradley played his part scoring three points from play.

This weekend Derry will play Laois at Celtic Park in a top of the table clash. Donegal are at home to Kildare while Tyrone travel to play Sligo.

Three North West fighters will contest National Senior Elite Finals this coming weekend in Dublin. Jason Quigley, Cathal Mc Monagle and Tyrone Mc Cullagh all took victory in their respective semi finals at the National Stadium last weekend. 2009 European Youth Champion Quigley beat Chris Blaney 11-4 in the 75kg weight category. The Twin Towns fighter will now take on the defending champion Darren O Neill in the decider. Cathal Mc Monagle from Letterkenny who is looking to retain his super heavy weight title, had a comfortable 13-1 semi final win over Chris Deveney while Derry’s Tyrone Mc Cullagh progressed to meet John Joe Nevin thanks to victory over Shane Cox. Elsewhere there was semi final defeats for two further Donegal boxers, Dungloe’s John Sweeney lost to Patrick Corcorcan at heavyweight and Thomas Roohan from Ballyshannon went down to Kenny Egan at light heavy weight. In the Ladies 69kg Final there was defeat for Raphoe’s Caroline Connelly.

Mark English won the Irish Indoor 800m title on Sunday at the Odyssey in Belfast. Letterkenny’s national junior record holder who led for most of the race came home to win impressively in a time of 1:51:62 and take his first senior title. English’s teammate Darren Mc Brearty finished second just ahead of Niall Touhy to take silver. McBrearty will compete in Paris at the start of March at the European Indoors following his record breaking run earlier this month in  Vienna Austria. In the meantime for English, he will return to the books and his studies at St. Eunan’s College.
Tir Chonaill’s Mary Mc Loone was also on the winner’s podium at the weekend. Mary successfully defended her Triple Jump crown with a jump of 12.50m. McLoone who has been a medal winner and record holder at senior level for a number of years also took a silver medal in the Long Jump finishing behind Kelly Proper.  Elsewhere Finn Valley’s Tori Pena won her first ever Indoor Irish title in the pole vault with a jump of 4.10m. Letterkenny’s Danny Mooney brought home a silver medal from a brilliant run in the 1500m and Brendan Boyce finished 3^rd in the 5kwalk.

Irish Team Manager Patsy Mc Gonagle says it was one of the better championships for Donegal.
 

A man is still being questioned about the murder of 49 year old Paddy Harkin in a Derry flat in the early hours of yesterday. A second man, 39 year old Paul Mythen with an address at Leck Cottages in Letterkenny, is critically at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.

The incident happened in the Bayview Terrace area near Strand Road PSNI station at around 1.30 yesterday morning.

The precise circumstances of what happened are the focus of an ongoing police investigation  ; Sinn Fein MLA Martina Anderson is urguing anyone with information to contact the PSNI……….

More Than 25 people were evacuated on Sunday from a supermarket when gas canisters started exploding in a blaze outside.

Thirty domestic gas canisters against a wall outside the Supervalu supermarket in Market Square, Bundoran, exploded as the blaze reached towards them from a parked delivery van.

Flames reached more than 30 feet when fire units from Bundoran, Ballyshannon and Donegal town dashed to the scene.

Nobody was injured and fire crews got the blaze under control within minutes before it reached a fourth-floor unoccupied apartment in the five-storey building..

A spokesman for Supervalu said they managed to evacuate the store of staff and customers, about 25 in all, within about two minutes. Everybody went out in an orderly fashion.

The alert was raised at 1. 25 p.m. when people smelled smoke from the burning van, attached to the store, before the gas canisters were threatened.

Michael Goodwin, Bundoran fire station officer, said they were still checking the precise cause of the fire but it appeared to have been connected in some way to the van. He said the blaze was outside but there was a little smoke damage caused inside as well.

Safety valves on the nearby gas canisters exploded when the heat reached a certain level, to allow the gas escape.

Police investigating the death of a man in Derry have upgraded their inquiry to murder.

Paddy Harkin

The victim, who’s been named as Paddy Harkin, was assaulted in the Bayview Terrace area near Strand Road
PSNI station.

Another man remains critically ill in hospital.

One man is being questioned about the incident.

Truckers from all over the country descended on Letterkenny on Saturday to join a protest against the rising cost of fuel and the impact it is having on the haulage industry.

The protest was organised by John McLaughlin.

The protestors gathered outside Letterkenny before moving into the town where a crowd of around 200 people listened to speeches by local politicians and election candidates.

Chris Ashmore covered the event for Wallace Media

Police  are investigating the death of a man whose body was found in the Bayview area of Derry city.

Another man is being treated for serious injuries.

The PSNI say one man has been arrested in connection with the investigation and the area around the Bayview Terrace Road has been closed.