A man motivated by "naked sectarianism" when he and his brother beat a Catholic man and threatened to cut up his body, was yesterday jailed for 22 years.
Aaron Thomas White (35) was told by Mr Justice Gillen at Belfast Crown Court that the attack on Michael Liam Reid four years ago "stands out as one of the most viciously sectarian and unprovoked attacks that the court has had the misfortune to encounter in recent years.
"This community had now stepped back from the abyss and it is to be hoped that crimes such as this have now been consigned to the dark side of the past," the judge said.
He added that "few offences strike closer to the very fabric of our society than those fuelled by sectarianism, particularly where the intent is to kill".
Last June White, of no fixed abode, was convicted by the no-jury court of trying to murder Mr Reid in a house in Patrick Place in Ballymena on October 11th, 2003.
Mr Reid had been visiting a friend after an argument with his girlfriend when White, his brother Neil White (30) and another man who has never been caught, attacked him with a knife, a saucepan and a ligature. The Catholic man only managed to escape by pretending he was dead.
The court heard that it was as Mr Reid lay playing dead he heard the three talk about getting a saw to cut up his body to dispose of it. Neil White of Wakehurst Road in Ballymena, is already serving a 16-year jail term after he pleaded guilty to the attempted murder.