By Tony O’Reilly-
The murder trial of Ian Ogle(pictured) at Belfast Crown Court was shown CCTV footage of how the 45 year old father-of-two was beaten and stabbed 11 times yards from his Cluan Place home at around 9.20pm on Sunday, January 27, 2019.
Ogle had been stopped by a local pastor who decided to pray for him, as he stood close to his home in East Belfast. He would have been totally unaware that calamity was round the corner- a dreadful end that prayer at the time would not prevent.
Glenn Rainey 37, who claims to reside in Ballyhalbert Caravan Park, Walter Alan Ervine 42, from Litchfield Street in Belfast, and Robert Spiers 41, from Millars Park in Dundonald, have all denied the murder.
Two co-accused — Jonathan Brown , 38, from Whinney Hill in Dundonald, and Mark Sewell 45, of Glenmount Drive in Newtownabbey — both pleaded guilty to murdering Mr Ogle earlier this month, and have been handed life sentences.
A senior prosecutor told the gripped court that an “altercation” occurred in the Prince Albert Bar on July 1, 2017.
He said the altercation involved Ian Ogle and his son Ryan Johnston “on one side”, and Glenn Rainey, Jonathan Brown and Alan Ervine “on the other”.
The prosecutor said ongoing tensions resulted from the altercation, adding that 35 minutes before Ian Ogle was attacked, both he and his son Ryan were involved in an assault on the Beersbridge Road.
The father and son got out of a car and attacked Neil Ogle, a cousin of Ian Ogle, as he walked along the Beersbridge Road.
”It is the Crown’s case that this attack on Neil Ogle was “by way of a reprisal” for the previous incident in the Prince Albert Bar when Neil Ogle “failed to intervene on the side of his family”, the prosecutor said.
Following this, the Crown barrister spoke of “a group being assembled in order to mount the attack on Ian Ogle”, which he said included mobile phone activity between Brown, Spiers, Rainey, Sewell and Ervine.
Just minutes before the attack, CCTV from a Glider bus on the Albertbridge Road captured a group of five men walking towards Cluan Place.
The Crown barrister said: “Ian Ogle was standing near the entrance to Cluan Place. He lived at 4 Cluan Place. He was talking to a local pastor who had stopped to speak to him.
“Ian Ogle told the pastor that ‘they’ were on their way. The pastor prayed with him. They were joined by another local man.
“The pastor then became aware of the group-of-five approaching and saw them attack Ian Ogle ‘like a pack of hyenas’, laying into him.
“He described at least one bat or baton striking Ian Ogle multiple times and, when he went to ground, his head was stamped on repeatedly.
“Both the pastor and the other man who was present shouted at them to stop and eventually they did.
“It was apparent that Ian Ogle was seriously injured. His son Ryan Johnston was alerted and the ambulance was called.”
He tried to get back up but was stamped on and kicked for around 30 seconds by the attackers, who then fled in the direction from which they had arrived.
A second piece of CCTV taken from the same Glider bus stop recorded five men — two running and three walking — in the immediate moments after the attack.
The prosecutor said Ervine was captured on this footage carrying a long, brass implement in his left hand while Spiers was carrying an item which the prosecution contend “may be a knife”.
When the paramedics arrived at Cluan Place, they described the scene as “crazy”.
The prosecutor said: “The blood was pumping out of him and there were stab wounds to his shoulder.
“Stab wounds were also observed to his back, but there were too many to count with any accuracy.”
He was rushed to the Royal Victoria Hospital where life was pronounced extinct at 10.12pm.
A post-mortem conducted on January 29, 2019, concluded that Mr Ogle had been stabbed 11 times in the back. He also sustained a fracture to the skull and bruises to his face, head ,and other parts of the body caused by punches and kicks.
The prosecutor made reference to cell site evidence, CCTV footage, DNA evidence, clothing identification and their movements in the aftermath of the murder, all of which will feature in the case against them.
It also emerged that the day after the murder, Rainey flew from Dublin Airport to Thailand, while Ervine went to Scotland via the ferry from Larne.
Ervine returned on February 3 through Belfast Port, he was arrested the next day, while Rainey was apprehended on March 3 at Manchester Airport after arriving from Bangkok.
Spiers was arrested two days after the murder at a house in east Belfast and all three accused were interviewed by police.
Rainey gave a “no comment” response to all questions and in his final interview he denied involvement in the murder.
Ervine also gave a “no comment” interview, while Spiers answered “no comment” to most questions put to him and also gave a statement denying his involvement.
The murder trial has sparked a lot of interest in Dublin especially, and promises to be very revealing.
Four co-accused have pleaded guilty to “lesser” charges arising from the murder and have been told they will be sentenced at a later date, as will Jonathan Brown and Mark Sewell.