Man is cleared of terror charges

Mr Ofrasio walked free from the court

A Filipino man has been cleared of terrorism offences after spending nearly a year in an NI jail.

The prosecution told Jaybe Ofrasio, 34, who has an address at Mercer Street in Lisburn, that they were offering no evidence against him.

The Crown originally claimed he was linked to an Islamic terror group, which was connected to Al Qaeda.

Outside the court, Mr Ofrasio's solicitor said his client wanted to return to a normal family life in NI.

In January 2004, Mr Ofrasio faced eight offences. Six of them were dropped ahead of Wednesday's court case.

Mr Ofrasio faced trial on the remaining two charges when he appeared at Belfast Crown Court.

He was accused of having a floppy disc titled: "Handling of sources by US Army" that was of a kind likely to have been of use to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

He was also charged with having a computer in circumstances that gave rise to a reasonable suspicion that he had it for a purpose connected with terrorism.

Custody

However, after 12 jurors were sworn in, the prosecution told Mr Justice Stephens he had been instructed to "offer no evidence on either of the counts on the indictment" against him.

The judge directed the five men and seven female jurors to acquit Mr Ofrasio.

The trial on two other counts of possessing useful information, documents entitled: "How can I train myself Jihad" and "SA-7 Grail" was previously stopped by the court.

Originally arrested at a previous address at Hawthorn Street, off the Falls Road in west Belfast in January 2004, Mr Ofrasio spent 11 months in custody before being released on High court bail.

Initially, the Crown case against him was that he had links to Jemaah Islamiya, an islamic paramilitary organistion in the Philippines which was closely connected to Al Qaeda.