THREE TEENAGERS WILL this morning appear before a court in Co Antrim charged with the murder of Christopher Meli.
All three were detained last Saturday after Meli’s body was found at around 1am on Glasvey Close in west Belfast.
He had sustained a number of serious injuries.
The three men, two of whom are aged 18 and the other who is aged 16, will appear before Lisburn Magistrates’ Court.
Following the incident police said that Meli had been subject to “a sustained and vicious assault resulting in fatal injuries”.
The PSNI have said that they believe that a group of 15 to 20 youths could have been involved in the attack.
Detective Chief Inspector Richard Campbell said that a timeline was being put together about what happened, based on witness statements.
“There appears to have been an initial incident on the Stewartstown Road before the attack on Christopher in an area known locally as Doc’s Lane,” he said.
“Christopher became separated from his friends and he was fatally assaulted at the location where his body was found, in Doc’s Lane.”
A vigil for Meli’s family took place on at the Slaibh Dubh estate yesterday evening, with friends and family lighting candles and releasing balloons.
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