A pensioner punched unconscious outside a primary school has a “one per cent chance of survival,” a court has heard.
Coleraine Magistrates Court also heard how the 74-year-old victim is in a medically induced coma in an Intensive Care Unit and according to a detective, the prognosis is “not a good outlook”.
Marcus Fleming (21) is charged with causing grievous bodily harm on November 2.
Fleming, from Cedarmount in Antrim, is also charged with causing criminal damage and one charge of attempted criminal damage to a police cell and vehicle on the same date.
Giving evidence during a contested application for bail, the police officer told the court it was at 19.32pm on Saturday when an ambulance crew alerted police that a male had been assaulted and was unconscious and bleeding heavily outside Antrim PS.
A female witness said she had seen a man punching the pensioner in the face, causing him to fall adding that first aid was given to the stricken pensioner until paramedics arrived.
When police spoke to the defendant at the front door of a property “blood was coming from his nose” and he was arrested but during the arrest operation and on his way to custody, Fleming had been irate and “in an agitated state” as he was “kicking and head butting the cell doors”.
Despite warnings, Fleming allegedly spat and urinated inside the cell van and during police interviews, he admitted punching the pensioner but claimed he acted in self-defence after being struck.
Fleming maintained that he had been hit first “so he had hit him back” but the court also heard that Fleming had been remorseful and “upset by the level of injury” sustained.
Defence lawyer Andy Edgerton said: “This is a very, very sad case; the defendant has been extremely remorseful.
“There was no premeditation and he fully accepts involvement in the altercation, making full admissions to his part. It was not a sustained attack...there was a confrontation and he fully accepts he struck him once.
“He had injuries himself and says he was attacked first by the complainant and then punched him back. That punch rendered him unconscious. The defendant expressed remorse from the get-go...it was a simple moment of madness and he gave a full account of his actions.”
District Judge Peter King refused bail and remanded Fleming into custody until November 26.