Man appears in court over beating of Scott

Ryan Craig, from Ashmount Gardens in Lisburn, was remanded in custody facing charges in relation to the beating of Scott Vineer.

On Monday, Mr Vineer was in Lisburn Magistrates Court with his mother and father to see Mr Craig charged with attempting to murder him.

There was no application for bail and the accused was remanded in custody until the end of the month.

Scott who suffers from autism was only 17 when he was assaulted on his way home from the South Eastern Regional College in September 2012.

He was beaten about the head and left unconscious behind a showroom of an old furniture store at the Laganbank Road.

Little is known as to what happened after he left college until the time he was found.

A day after he went missing a police dog handler found him lying unconscious at the rear of a disused furniture showroom on Laganbank Road late on Friday September 7, 2012.

It is believed that Mr. Vineer, described as a ‘gentle giant’ was viciously attacked and left for dead and remained for many months critically ill in hospital.

He was a student at the South Eastern Regional College in Lisburn and attended a job club, run by the learning disability charity, Mencap.

His mother raised the alarm at 10pm on September 6 after he failed to return home from college.

He remained in hospital for six months three of which he remained in a coma and then confined to a wheelchair.

It was March 2013 when he returned to his Lisburn home and was greeted by family and friends.

Scott had been on a two year job club course at the South Eastern Regional College and was a former pupil at Beechlawn School prior to the attack.

He studied a personal development course, that involved a range of activities to help develop and acquire the skills needed for the workplace and prepare him for employment.