Stabbed four times and beaten with dog chain
TRIAL JURY WATCHES CCTV FOOTAGE OF BRUTAL ATTACK ON DAD IN CITY STREET
Jurors have watched CCTV footage of a man being repeatedly stabbed and beaten with a dog chain in a brutal street attack.
Christopher Reed was hospitalised after the assault by two strangers on Hylton Road in Sunderland in the early hours of August 25 last year.
Newcastle Crown Court heard the married dad picked out Mark Roberts, 31, and Kyle Dixon, 23, as being responsible for the violence he suffered.
Both men deny involvement in the attack and are being tried by a jury.
Roberts, of Guildford Street, Sunderland, denies wounding with intent and having an offensive weapon, namely a knife.
Dixon, of Warwick Street in the city, denies wounding with intent and having an offensive weapon, namely a metal dog chain.
Prosecutor Mark Guiliani told the court Mr Reed had encountered the men while he and a pal, who wanted to buy cannabis, were out in the city.
Mr Guiliani showed jurors CCTV footage from shop cameras which showed four men in the street and the attack on Mr Reed.
Mr Guiliani added: “Roberts, armed with a knife, stabbed him four times. Dixon then attacked him with a dog chain in this joint enterprise attack.
“Bearing in mind, both defendants say this is not them.”
Jurors have heard the men, who were picked out by Mr Reed at a photographic identity parade, both claim there has been a case of “mistaken identity”.
Mr Guiliiani said there is no dispute Mr Reed suffered “really serious harm” as a result of the attack on him.
He told jurors: “The only decision you need to make is can you be sure it was Mr Roberts and Mr Dixon.”
Christopher Sykes, defending Roberts, told the jury: “In one sentence, the case for Mr Roberts, as is stated in his interview, is mistaken identification. It wasn’t him, its as simple as that.”
Matthew Crowe, defending Dixon, told jurors: “The case for Mr Dixon is much the same. Despite the Crown’s repeated insistence of being sure it is him on the footage, we say it is a case, you might think, of mistaken identification.” The trial continues.