Trial next month for assaulting son's killer

Gina McIlveen, 46, had been excused from attending Antrim Magistrates Court on Tuesday to hear there will be two witnesses two testify at her contest which Deputy District Judge Peter Prenter scheduled for October 24.

Ms McIlveen, from Glendun Drive in Ballymena, is accused of assaulting Mervyn Moon on August 14 this year.

Previously defence solicitor Aidan Carlin has told the court that having taken instructions from his client, “its to be contested”.

In a horrifying attack, 15-year-old schoolboy Michael McIlveen was kicked and beaten with a baseball bat in an alleyway after being chased by a gang in his hometown in May 2006.

The teenager, known to his friends and family as Mickybo, died later from brain injuries inflicted during the sectarian assault.

Moon, who pleaded guilty to murder and is from Douglas Terrace in Ballymena, was jailed for a minimum 10 years after the prosecution outlined how the schoolboy had died “solely as a consequence of the blows issued by Mervyn Moon with the baseball bat”.