Boxer's ex-partner gives evidence against him

Eamonn Magee won the WBU welterweight championship

Former boxing champion Eamonn Magee allegedly grabbed his ex-partner by the hair and tried to throw her downstairs, Belfast Magistrates Court has heard.

Mr Magee then laughed at Maria Magill and recorded her struggles to get past him on his mobile phone, she claimed.

Mr Magee, 38, of Eskdale Gardens in the city, denies a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm against the woman he was with for six years.

She gave her evidence to the court via video link.

She claimed that she had been out drinking with Mr Magee after a concert and that they got into an argument.

She said he grabbed her and she slapped his hands to make him let her go.

She claimed he slapped her back and trailed her by the hair.

Mr Magee's lawyer suggested that she had been extremely drunk and that his client would contest that she had "gone beserk".

He also contended that Ms Magill was friendly with Mr Magee's ex-wife, and that the pair had both made false allegations against his client.

The hearing was adjourned so that a medical expert could be called at a later date.

Last month, the former WBU welterweight champion won an appeal against a conviction for headbutting a man in north Belfast.