Man (27) pleads guilty after stabbing brother five times in unprovoked attack

Barry McAleavey (27) pleaded guilty to wounding Mark McAleavey with intent to cause GBH on January 3 last year.

Newry Crown Court was told he stabbed his brother, Mark, in the face, shoulder, chest and arm, with the injuries causing his lung to collapse in hospital.

A police officer said the injuries could have killed him.

An earlier bail hearing was told the defendant asked his brother to come over to his house to keep him company “because he was having problems with his partner”.

The siblings were standing in the kitchen when, according to the victim, Barry McAleavey lifted a knife and stabbed him.

“The injured party ran down the street shouting. That alerted neighbours, who came to his assistance,” a police officer told the latest hearing.

He added that McAleavey, from Mourne View Park in Newry, “discarded the knife in a back garden”, but it was discovered and sent for tests.

The matter was due to proceed last week without evidence from the victim, who withdrew from the case.

Prosecuting counsel Geraldine McCullough told a jury there were 18 witnesses set to testify in a trial expected to last three or four days. The trial was cancelled after McAleavey confessed at the eleventh hour.

Judge Gordon Kerr KC bailed him and said he would pass sentence in April.