McIlveen accused 'changed sides'

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The Michael McIlveen murder trial has heard a witness was "happy to blacken the name" of one of the defendants.

Witness Liam Phillips had told the jury he and his friend were chased by up to 30 Protestant youths before the Catholic teenager was killed.

A lawyer for Christopher Kerr, 22, of Carnduff Drive, said his client had become a hate figure "for changing his allegiance" to join a Protestant gang.

"I've no reason to blacken his name," replied Mr Phillips.

Mr Kerr's lawyer told the jury his client had moved out of the Dunclug area of Ballymena after an assault in a Catholic area of the town in April 2005 left him hospitalised.

He put it to the witness that his client "was public enemy number one because he had changed sides", a claim rejected by Mr Phillips.

The defence barrister also told Antrim Crown Court that around the time of the schoolboy's killing, tensions were high between Catholic and Protestant youths in Ballymena.

He said social networking websites were being used to exchange "abusive and insulting language", and the two sides were going online to organise fights in car parks in the town.

'Leader of the pack'

Mr Phillips told the police during a videotaped interview, which has already been played to the court, that Mr Kerr was "the leader of the pack" during the initial chase from the cinema to the alleyway.

He said he remembered the accused being there because he was wearing a Rangers baseball cap.

The defence lawyer put it to Mr Phillips: "You were just agreeing with the officer and saying the first thing that came into your head.

"That's an exaggeration and you are happy to put public enemy number one at the forefront of this crowd when in fact he was nothing of the sort."

The witness replied "no."

Denying that he discussed what he saw with another witness, Mr Phillips said: "We don't want to talk about it - it hurts too much to talk about it."

Five people deny murdering Michael McIlveen on 8 May, 2006.

A 20-year-old has already pleaded guilty to the murder and is awaiting sentence.

The case continues.