Murder bid accused claims victim lunged at female friend with knife
HE TELLS COURT HE DID NOT SHOOT MOTHER OF HIS SON
A MAN has told a jury he did not shoot the mother of his son in the face at her Derby home.
Tyrone Harvey said instead, when he turned up at Jodie Dickinson’s Alvaston address, it was her who pulled a knife and started making stabbing motions towards a female he had arrived with.
The 32-year-old defendant, giving evidence, said at that point Miss Dickinson was “going crazy” with the weapon so he “ran past her, jumped in his car” and drove to Birmingham.
Harvey is on trial at Derby Crown Court for the attempted murder of his ex-partner. He is also facing a charge of assault occasioning grievous bodily harm.
He denies both charges. Giving evidence, Harvey said that on the evening and morning of the shooting he had been to a party with Miss Dickinson and her friend Tyra Holt where drugs and drink were consumed.
He said he left them there to get some more cannabis from a different house in Arkwright Street, Allenton, where he met a friend of Miss Dickinson, called Lauren Campbell.
Harvey said he then drove Miss
Campbell to Miss Dickinson’s address in Warren Street, where the prosecution say the shooting later happened.
He said: “She (Miss Dickinson) opened the door and we walked in.
“She said to Lauren ‘what are you doing with my man?.’
“She then accused me of sleeping with (another woman) and I said to her ‘what are you talking about?’
“She picked up a knife from the settee, leaned over and started stabbing after (at) Lauren but Lauren moved, I don’t know if she catched (caught) her (with the knife).
“When I saw her going crazy with the knife I said to her ‘woman, you are on drink and drugs, I’m out of here.’ I ran past her, jumped in my car and drove off.”
Adam Western, Harvey’s barrister, asked his client: “Did you cause any physical harm or injury to Jodie Dickinson?”
The defendant replied: “No.” Mr Western said: “Did you shoot her?” He said: “No.”
The prosecution say Harvey shot his former partner after accusing her of sleeping with another man.
Opening its case on day one of the trial last week, barrister Jonathan Straw said: “At just before 6am on January 11 this year at an address in Warren Street, a woman called Jodie Dickinson was shot in the face from a very close range by someone wielding an improvised handgun. “The Crown’s case is that the person who shot Jodie Dickinson intended to kill her.
“The Crown’s case is that the person who wielded the gun and pulled the trigger was this defendant, Tyrone Harvey, the former partner of Jodie Dickinson.”
Mr Straw said on the evening before and into the morning of the shooting Miss Dickinson was staying at the address with her friend Miss Holt.
He said they were “chilling and drinking gin” and Miss Campbell phoned Miss Dickinson to say she would come and join them.
Mr Straw said that woman turned up with the defendant and the shooting took place.
He said the prosecution’s case is that Harvey fired the improvised weapon from close range into the mouth of Miss Dickinson.
A ball bearing shot upwards and fractured part of her eye socket where it became lodged and had to be removed surgically around two months later.
Giving her evidence on the second day of the trial, Miss Dickinson recalled the moment she was shot.
She said: “The last thing I can remember him saying was ‘bitch’ then I heard a loud bang, like it deafened me.
“I could smell fire, burning, smoke, it smelled like a bonfire.
“I was just in a state of shock, I just kept repeating ‘I have been shot.’”
Mr Straw said Harvey was arrested when his car was pulled over in the Chesterfield area around a week after the shooting following a media appeal.
He said a search of his home in Chattaway Street, Ashted Nechells, Birmingham, uncovered ball bearings, gun oil, pellets for an air weapon and a firearms booklet.
The improvised firearm used to shoot Miss Dickinson has never been recovered. The trial continues.
She picked up a knife from the settee, leaned over and started stabbing after (at) Lauren. Tyrone Harvey