Murder accused claims use of force was ‘very reasonable’
A MAN accused of murdering his brother in an alleged brutal beating that left his sibling “unrecognisable” admitted he “thumped down into wet blood” during a violent altercation and said: “I tried to knock him out.”.
Darren Steel, 39, denies murdering his older brother Martin at an address in Swansea last year and told his trial he believed he was defending himself and his use of force was “very reasonable”.
Prosecutor Caroline Rees KC, opening the trial at Swansea Crown Court, said the pair had a “volatile” relationship which some who knew them described as a “love-hate relationship”. She said it was the prosecution case that on May 20 last year at an address in Hill View Crescent in Morriston the defendant used blunt force against his 48-year-old brother while “consumed in a rage”.
She said after “brutally assaulting” his sibling Steel then “ran away”, leaving his gravely injured brother to die alone. Miss Rees said it was the brothers’ “poor unsuspecting mother” who found Martin Steel “lifeless, bloodied and heavily injured” sitting in an armchair.
During her opening address to the jury, Miss Rees also said that between
May 18 and May 20 the defendant, while in “temper and anger”, also subjected other people to assaults. She said he tied Julian Samuel to a chair and subjected him to a severe beating over the course of a number of hours and then pursued his ex-partner Dawn Begley with a hammer and dragged her into the road.
Yesterday Darren Steel was crossexamined by Miss Rees about the events in his brother’s flat. He said when things became physical – which he claims began when his brother twice punched him – he struck his brother with a punch to the mouth that resulted in Martin Steel landing “on his a***”.
The defendant said his brother “had a look in his eye” and he decided to restrain him, adding that his hand “ended up on [Martin’s’] throat”.
Steel told the court he was thinking of “punching down” but was concerned because there was blood on his face, so restrained his brother instead. But he claimed he could “still feel the force in him trying to attack me” and so he “thumped down into wet blood” around his mouth.
He told the court: “I tried to knock him out. I had visions of him picking up a weapon. I wanted to knock him out to keep us both safe.. I wanted to immobilise him. Obviously that was a bad decision ... Him picking up a weapon ... dangerous guy.”
The defendant said he could still “feel the strength” in his brother and was reluctant to let him get up in case he armed himself with a weapon.
Miss Rees said: “You punched down into wet blood.” Steel replied: “I had no choice.”
The defendant said his brother had used weapons on him in the past and he believes he was acting in lawful self-defence. Steel said he believed his use of force in those circumstances was “very reasonable”.
He told the court it would have been a “good idea” if he’d knocked his brother out. “If I wanted to kill him, I would have used one of the weapons he had around the place. At no time did I want to kill my brother. All I wanted to do was prevent harm.”
Miss Rees asked the defendant: “How much force did you use? You really went for it, didn’t you?” Steel told the court: “I had fear in me.”
Steel was also asked why he didn’t phone for help for his brother, as according to Miss Steel “it was obvious he was dead or dying”.
“I didn’t know he was ... If I had known he was dying, I would definitely have called an ambulance and then f ***** off somewhere,” Steel replied.
Miss Rees put it to the defendant that he remained silent during his five police interviews because he wanted to see what CCTV, DNA and witness evidence there was against him before he decided what he could get away with and what story he could make up to fit that evidence.
Steel said: “Make something up? No, no, Miss.” The defendant continued: “My brother was a dangerous man. He was not an angel.”
Darren Steel, of Lon Camlad, Morriston, Swansea, denies murder and an alternative lesser charge of manslaughter in respect of his sibling and also denies wounding with intent and the lesser alternative of unlawful wounding of Julian Samuel, and denies one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm against Miss Begley.
He had denied a second count of ABH against Miss Begley but the judge ordered the jury to find him guilty of that count after he admitted assaulting her and causing some injury during a chase on the morning of May 20 last year.
The trial, before Judge Paul Thomas KC, continues on Monday with closing speeches by prosecution and defence counsel.