When I'd a child I became different ..I had to get out

Interviews accused gave to journalist played in court

- JAMES WARD

LISA Smith has denied using her military experience to assist the Islamic State cause in Syria.

The former Defence Forces soldier denies charges of membership of the illegal organisation the Islamic State and providing funds to benefit it.

The Special Criminal Court heard yesterday that Smith, 39, denied taking part in fighting in Syria and she did not believe in suicide bombings in interviews.

Videos of two interviews she gave to journalist Norma Costello from camps in Syria in April and July of 2019 were played in the court.

In them, she said she had decided she “had to get out” of Syria after the birth of her daughter.

Smith, from Dundalk, Co Louth, added she had grown used to “bullets and bombs” during her time living in the so-called Islamic State, but her priorities changed after she became a mother.