Brendan Devine
This is the man who once told the Sunday World that he is haunted by the memory of seeing his best friend beaten and stabbed to death in one of Ulster’s most notorious, and still unsolved, murders.
Brendan Devine had his throat cut in the same IRA bloodletting which claimed the life of his friend and drinking pal Robert McCartney.
The January 30, 2005 murder sparked an international storm the whole way from Stormont to the White House in Washington.
But we can reveal that 40-year-old Devine, who miraculously survived the slaughter, is now on the run himself from cops.
The Belfast father-of-three is the chief suspect for doling out a brutal bar stool beating in a city docklands bar last weekend.
And we can also reveal that his victim is himself a 49-year-old suspect facing trial for attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
He is Hugh ‘Applegoat’ McCormick, from Rosevale Street in Belfast.
Our sources report that ‘Applegoat’, originally from the Market area of the city, was in the bar last Saturday afternoon when Devine, a self-confessed drugs user jailed in the past for attacking a nightclub bouncer and for armed robbery, stormed in.
They say Devine gave Hugh McCormick ‘a fierce dig’ before using a bar stool on him and leaving him lying unconscious.
Although police have not confirmed they are looking for Devine, a top cop gave an account of the attack when the Sunday World requested an official comment.
PSNI Inspector Mark McHaffie said: “Police received a report that around 4.00p.m. (on Saturday, October 11) a man had entered the premises and punched a male customer then struck him with a bar stool, knocking him unconscious.
“The injured man was taken to hospital and treated for injuries to his face and head.”
Beaten unconcious: Hugh 'Applegoat' McCormick
The police statement said they are investigating the ‘assault at licensed premises in the Corporation Square area’ where Muldoon’s pub is situated.
Inspector McHaffie said: “The suspect, who is described as being around 5ft.10ins. tall, of stocky build with short fair hair and wearing a g grey t-shirt and blue jeans, made off from the premises immediately after the attack.”
The description fits Devine, who asked to be interviewed about Robert McCartney’s murder and the impact it on him for an article published in September, 2011.
The Sunday World can also reveal that this is not the first time ex-boxer Devine has handed out a beating to Hugh McCormick.
The first time was over five years ago. That time it was in a city centre bar in Belfast.
Again, as reported at the time in the Sunday World, Brendan Devine just walked in off the street and ‘laid into’ ‘Applegoat’.
Yesterday, the police confirmed that they had still not made any arrest in the wake of the latest assault.
There were reports that his victim had ended up in intensive care in hospital. Those were not confirmed, and the condition and whereabouts of Hugh McCormick are not known either.
However, he and his brother Jim McCormick, 45, are both due in the dock at Belfast Crown Court on the 17th. of next month.
They will stand trial then charged with the attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Joseph ‘Big Joe’ Henry at a house in the Market area of the city back on July 2, 2011.
Further details of that case cannot be reported at the moment for legal reasons.
When Brendan Devine gave an interview to this newspaper in 2011 about the Robert McCartney murder, he told us: “I remember it all pretty clearly. It’s there for life.
“I don’t really remember his (the killer’s) face, but I do remember his evil grin, he had a grin on his face as he attacked us.”
He further said that the events of that blood-lust night and the subsequent trial – where no one was convicted of Robert McCartney murder – had left him ‘damaged’.
“I went off the rails, I was getting stoned and drinking too much,” he told us.
“Looking back now with a clear head I was trying to block it out.
“But the bottom line is that the people who killed him are still on the streets.”
The bottom line last night was that Brendan Devine was still on the streets – somewhere – in spite of being the chief suspect in the KO beating of Hugh ‘Applegoat’ McCormick in another savage battering.