JURY SHOWN CCTV OF PAIR BUYING CAR
THE trial of two 21-year-old men accused of deliberately killing a dadof-four has begun.
Ali Brandon and Joey Matthews are alleged to have driven their car directly at Carl Eland, whilst he was riding his bike on August 21, last year.
Carl Eland was with his girlfriend Kassi Weir – she was sitting on the handlebars of his bike.
Eland was catapulted into the air when a white Vauxhall Insignia collided with him, at around 9pm.
Mr Eland, 37, landed head first on the corner of Homerton Road and Gribdale Road, in Pallister Park.
He suffered catastrophic injuries and was pronounced dead five days later, at James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough. His girlfriend, Kassi Weir, escaped with minor injuries.
Yesterday prosecutor Craig Hassal QC told the jury at Teesside Crown Court that the car had “deliberately mounted the pavement and drove at them”.
Mr Hassal played CCTV to court, which he says showed Ali and Matthews buying the white Vauxhall Insignia for £1,900, the day before the crash, on August 20, 2021.
Mr Hassal said that the police have tracked the two mobile phones, that they say belong to the two accused, in the 24 hours before the fatal collision.
The jury listened as they heard that the two phones used cell masts which were in the same areas as the Vauxhall, as it drove around North Ormesby on Friday, August 20 and 21.
Brandon Ali, of Dalwood Court in Hemlington, and Joey Matthews, of Newcomen Green, Longlands, in Middlesbrough, deny murdering Carl Eland.
They also deny attempted grievous bodily harm of Kassi Weir.
In a packed courtroom, Mr Hassal said that Mr Eland was left, “bleeding from his ears and mouth and his legs were tangled in his bike. His eyes were open but he was unconscious.”
His girlfriend ran over to to help him and called an ambulance.
The jury heard that the white Vauxhall didn’t stop after the crash: “Fifteen minutes later it left North Ormesby.
“Next Matthews, his brother and a man called Charlie Boyd, are captured on a footpath near Brewsdale Road. The three of them are on their bikes.”
Later on this week, the prosecution are expected to tell the jury where the Vauxhall was later found by police, and about the answers that the two accused gave to the police, after they were arrested on suspicion of murder.