Holby trial: Boyfriend refuses to give evidence
THE rapper boyfriend of Scots actor John Michie’s daughter has refused to give evidence in his trial for her manslaughter.
Ceon Broughton is accused of giving Louella Fletcher-Michie a ‘bumped up’ dose of party drug 2C-P and failing to get medical help as she began hallucinating before dying of an overdose.
The grime music star denies responsibility for the 24-year-old’s death. However, his barrister yesterday announced he would not be giving evidence, as Holby City actor Mr Michie, 62, watched with his family in the public gallery.
Judge Mr Justice Goose told jurors that they could ‘take inference’ from the 29-year-old’s ‘failure’ to take the stand.
Prosecutors allege he supplied the synthetic class A substance to Ms Fletcher-Michie at the Bestival music festival at Lulworth Castle, Dorset, causing her to have a ‘bad trip’. Jurors have heard that Broughton then recorded his girldefence friend as she screamed like a ‘wild animal’, hit herself repeatedly and tried to eat thorns and rubbed them across her arms and face.
Despite the medical tent being only 400 yards away, it is alleged Broughton chose not carry her to get help because he was serving a suspended sentence.
Jurors have been told Broughton was the only person at the festival found with 2C-P, with a labelled bag hidden in his phone case.
When questioned by police, he said he had not supplied the drug to Ms Fletcher-Michie and claimed he would have carried her to medics if Mr Michie, 62, and his 68-year-old wife Carol had not told him to find someone in a high-vis jacket.
At Winchester Crown Court yesterday, Broughton’s barrister Stephen Kamlish, QC, said: ‘The will not be giving, and will not be calling, any evidence.’
The judge asked Mr Kamlish: ‘Having been advised, is he aware that not giving evidence, it may be open to the jury to draw inference from his failure, as is properly directed by me?’
Mr Kamlish confirmed he had been advised.
The court has heard former Taggart star Mr Michie and his wife made a desperate 130-mile dash from north London to Bestival after hearing a hallucinating Ms FletcherMichie screeching down the phone.
Broughton used his iPhone to film her tripping on 2C-P, continuing to do so as her condition worsened and even allegedly after she died.
Prosecutor William Mousley, QC, said the rapper could have sought medical help but did not as he ‘didn’t want to be arrested’ as he was serving a suspended sentence and would likely be jailed.
Jurors have also been shown shocking footage of Ms FletcherMichie hallucinating wildly and repeatedly shouting ‘Mum’, as well as ‘Dad, I love you’, before slapping her legs.
Grisly ‘live’ iPhone images, taken by Broughton at 11.25pm on September 10, 2017, show a lifeless Ms Fletcher-Michie lying on her back with bloodied hands.
The court heard that during a police interview the day after her overdose, which would have been her 25th birthday, Broughton lied to officers, telling them he had not taken drugs at the festival to stay out of ‘trouble’.
But medical evidence revealed he had MDMA, ketamine, diazepam and alprazolam in his system, as well as 2C-P.
Broughton, of Enfield, north London, denies manslaughter and supplying class A drugs.
The trial continues.
‘Draw inference from his failure’