The son of traditional Irish musician Francis McPeake told a jury a crowd who gathered outside his parents’ home in the Markets area of Belfast should be “ashamed of themselves”.
Francis McPeake jnr said his four young children were staying with his parents when their Eliza Street Close home was attacked in September 2013 and that some of the crowd that gathered then surrounded a car being used to take his children to safety.
Mr McPeake jnr was speaking from the witness box of Belfast Crown Court, where he said his children “should not have been subjected” to events that unfolded on the evening of September 14th, 2013.
Two women from the Markets area are standing trial on charges linked to the intimidation into leaving his home of traditional Irish musician Francis McPeake.
Large crowd
A large crowd gathered outside the McPeake family home following reports in a newspaper that the musician was facing sex abuse charges.
The two standing trial are 48-year-old Eileen Murdock from Eliza Street Close, and 29-year-old Danielle Whyte from Stewart Street.
Both women have been charged with, and deny, intimidating Francis McPeake into leaving his home by force, threats or menaces between September 13th and 16th, 2013.
Ms Whyte faces an additional charge of intimidating Eugene Pinkey snr - Mr McPeake’s brother-in-law and neighbour - into leaving his home on the same dates.
Prosecuting barrister Michael Chambers told the jury "Mr McPeake's house was attacked by a large mob, and we say these two ladies were part of that mob, and that crowd's intention was to move him from his place or residence. He did, in fact. He was taken away by police on the night this all happened."
At its height, an estimated 60 to 70 people had gathered in the area, while the house was attacked with eggs, missiles and bottles.
When he was called to give evidence, Mr McPeake jnr said he was out with friends on the evening in question when he received a call about an incident at his parents’ house.
‘Tense feeling’
He told the jury that at the time his four young children were at that location, and that when he arrived there was a “tense feeling within the street”.
He spoke of a “sense of urgency” in removing his children from the house when it starting coming under attack from missiles, and said the crowd that had gathered outside were shouting verbal abuse and calling his father a paedophile.
Mr McPeake claimed that as his children were being removed from the house, the crowd started to “sarcastically” chant “save the children”, and at one point some of the crowd surrounded the car as the youngsters were being driven away.
The musician’s son claimed both Danielle Whyte and Eileen Murdock were part of the crowd that were chanting. However, the barristers representing both women told the court this claim was incorrect.
Jonathan Connolly, representing Ms Whyte, said she made the case that whilst she was on the street that night, she didn’t chant anything and she “certainly did not surround a car with children in it”.
When this was put to Mr McPeake, he replied: “I think that anyone who was on the street that night should be ashamed of themselves, because any decent human being should have been in their own homes, and she was on the street that night.”
He said he saw Ms Whyte’s “mouth moving and chanting with the rest of them”.
Mr Connolly pointed out to Mr McPeake that the claims he was making about Ms Whyte from the witness box did not appear in his police statement, which was taken a few days after the incident.
Also called to give evidence was Francis McPeake snr’s wife Sarah, who was looking after her grandchildren when her house came under attack.
‘Never forget’
Tearfully telling the court she would “never forget” the night, Ms McPeake said among the verbal abuse were threats to kill her husband and to burn the house down.
Ms McPeake said when the crowd gathered outside her home, she noticed her neighbour Eileen Murdock was among them. Claiming she saw Ms Murdock kick her husband’s car, she also claimed she heard her neighbour calling her husband a paedophile.
Jonpaul Shields, representing Ms Murdock, told Ms McPeake she was "confused" about events that night and that Ms Murdock did not shout any abuse or attack her husband's car.
This claim was rejected by Ms McPeake, who said her neighbour Ms Murdock was fully aware she was looking after her four grandchildren, as she did every Saturday.
She said: “My grandchildren won’t come round to my house now because of the evil people in the street.”
Mr Shields told the court it was Ms Murdock’s case that during the incident she was on the street in order to remove a neighbour from the situation, and that after pulling this neighbour from the crowd she brought her into her home.
The neighbour in question is 37-year-old Colleen McNally, who along with two other co-accused - Sarah Bruce (44) and her 50-year old partner Paul Quinn, of Stewart Street - pleaded guilty to intimidating Mr McPeake into leaving his home.
In addition, Quinn admitted a charge of damaging the window of a vehicle belonging to Mr McPeake, while McNally pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage to the same vehicle.
The trial continues.