MURDER TRIAL WITNESS TELLS COURT THAT HE BEGGED HIS PAL NOT TO DIE
THE best f r iend of a teenager allegedly struck by a van has told a murder trial how he lay on the pavement next to him begging him not to die.
Giving evidence today at the High Court in Glasgow, Daniel Ewing wept as he described seeing his friend being hit by the van.
Mr Ewing told the court he dragged Liam’s body from the road on to the pavement before cradling him in his arms following the collision close to Celtic Park in the early hours of September 29, 2019.
When asked by prosecutors what his relationship to Liam was, the 19- year- old replied: “He was my best friend, so he was.”
Mr Ewing had been at a football match in Edinburgh on September 28, he told the court yesterday.
When he returned to Glasgow he went to the pub before texting Liam to arrange to meet at a friend’s house in Easterhouse.
The teenagers spent the afternoon and evening there before heading back to Mr Ewing’s home on Barrowfield Place.
Three other friends joined the young men at the house and they spent the night “enjoying ourselves and carrying on drinking”.
Mr Ewing told the court he was in the bathroom when he heard shouting from outside.
When he went downstairs the front door was open and his friends had gone to see what was happening.
Liam, 18, did not go out but remained in the house, the court heard, and “was not involved in any way” with what was going on outside.
Outside in the street, Mr Ewing told the court, two groups of men were shouting and running at one another.
He recognised one group as being from the bottom end of Barrowfield and the other as being from the top end.
Mr Ewing told the court he recognised murder accused Dean Wright, Robert Farrell and a third man, with the two accused being in a white van.
He said the third man was holding a knife.
Wright, 32, deny murder.
After watching for a while, Mr Ewing turned to go back to his house when he saw Liam walking down the street towards him.
Mr Ewing said: “I hear a fast car approaching, that turned out to be a van, and it swerved towards the right where Liam was.
“I shouted to Liam to watch but unfortunately I was too late.
“The van hit Liam and Liam went 15 yards into the air.
“I ran over the road and there was blood all over the place. I tried to help Liam.”
The teenager then told the court that the van had turned around and he was afraid it would run over Liam again.
He described dragging Liam’s body from the road on to the pavement.
He added: “The van came back down and swerved where there were people standing.
“It turned back and stopped right in front of me and Liam.
“That’s when I noticed it was Dean Wright and Robert Farrell.”
Mr Ewing said the two men then exited the van and ran off but he and
Farrell, 33, could not see anything further as he was lying on the pavement beside his friend.
He sobbed as he told the court: “I had Liam in my lap and there was a woman trying to give CPR.
“There was blood everywhere. Right away I thought he was dead.”
“Did asked.
“No,” Mr Ewing replied.
“Did he speak?”
“No,” Mr Ewing said again, “He couldn’t move in any way. He was helpless. There was blood everywhere coming out of Liam, I couldn’t tell you where from, there was too much.
“I was just begging wouldn’t be dead.”
Mr Ewing told the court that he and Liam were surrounded by “hundreds” of people and that he remembered Liam’s family arriving at the scene.
An ambulance crew arrived but Liam died in hospital.
Mr Ewing’s mother, Jacqueline Foy, also gave evidence at court yesterday.
She said she could remember the “thud as clear as day” as Liam Hendry was apparently struck by the vehicle.
Ms Foy was walking home from a friend’s house in the early hours of September 29, 2019, having been socialising in two pubs the night before.
She told the High Court that she and her daughter were walking along Stamford Street.
The 53- year- old said: “I could hear the van coming up Barrowfield Street and the next thing it swerved to the right.
“I can remember the thud as clear as day. [ Liam] went up and then he came down.” move?” the prosecutor that he
Ms Foy said she ran towards the scene. She added: “I checked for a pulse at his neck.”
Prosecutor Liam Ewing said: “Did you find one?”
“No,” she replied.
Ms Foy said: “There was blood covering his hair and his face. Daniel was there then a lot of people just appeared.
“The van had gone up Celtic Park end [ of the then turned again.
“Daniel pulled Liam back because the van was headed back towards us.
“I pushed Daniel into a garden because the van had gone past me and was coming back.”
“What made you push your son out of the way?” the prosecutor asked.
“The van was going to try and run over us,” she said.
Ms Foy told the court her daughter was attempting to use CPR to resuscitate Liam.
She added: “I had to get hold of Daniel because he was hysterical. He was shouting, ‘ My pal, my pal.’”
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The court also heard from college student Brandon McAuley who, after a birthday night out in Glasgow city centre, went on to a party at Daniel Ewing’s house.
Mr McAuley also said he heard a “big commotion” outside and went to look.
The 23- year- old said he remembered turning around at one point and noticing Liam standing on the pavement.
He said: “I heard a big thud and saw someone struck by the van.
“The van struck Liam at quite a speed. A lot of people, including myself, rushed over to see who it was and if they were ok.
“[ The van] was going very fast and intending for who was standing there.”
When asked by the prosecutor to clarify, Mr McAuley added: “Intending to hit him.
“Because after it struck Liam it turned round and then went for the group that was attending to Liam.
“It struck him and he went up into the air and I think I went into shock after that.
“Someone tried to drag him off the road because the van was coming back.”
Mr McAuley told the court he feared he would be hit by the van and so he and others went into a garden.
Liam was dragged behind a bollard, he said, to try to protect him.
The student said he believed the van came to a halt because it had stalled when trying to go over a speed bump.
Mr McAuley added: “Somebody in the crowd shouted, ‘ He’s f***** it’.
“The next thing I can remember is being in a ball on the ground and then someone tapping my shoulder and taking me home.”
Wright and Farrell are separately accused of trying to kill four people who had been helping Liam that morning.
Wright’s QC Tony Graham then questioned Mr Ewing about the incident.
They both deny all allegations. The trial, before judge Lord Arthurson, continues.