Witness tells of moment lifelong friend suffered fatal blow to head
AYOUNG dad fell to the floor unconscious immediately after being punched suddenly and unexpectedly to the side of his head, a court heard.
Gavin Rees, 24, from Maesteg, never regained consciousness and died three weeks after being hit by Jeffrey Shepherd, who is on trial at Cardiff Crown Court accused of manslaughter.
Giving evidence on the second day of the trial, Mr Rees’ friend, Levi Whelan, said: “He [Shepherd] just hit him. Bang to the side of the face.”
The court heard the incident happened in a car park near Maesteg Community Hospital in Neath Road at about 5pm on August 30 last year.
Asked how long he had known Mr Rees, the witness replied: “All my life.”
He told the court he was driving home to Maesteg from work when he saw Mr Rees driving towards him with friends Kye Edwards and Nathan Healy in his white pick-up truck.
Mr Whelan said he wanted to ask them if they were going to the gym and followed them into the car park.
He described seeing Mr Rees, from Caerau, pull up next to a Volkswagen Caddy van with two people inside and said he parked up too.
The witness said he talked to his friend Mr Edwards, while Mr Rees got out of the truck and walked around to speak to Shepherd.
He told the court Mr Rees leaned with his arm up against the defendant’s van and, asked if he heard any raised voices, he replied: “No, nothing.”
Mr Whelan said: “As Gavin turned back round to face me, he [Shepherd] just smacked him on the side of the face.” He added the defendant used his right hand to punch Mr Rees to the left side of his head.
Michael Jones QC, prosecuting, asked: “Did that punch make a noise?” The witness replied: “Yeah, a hell of a noise. Like a slap or a bang.”
Questioned about what happened to Mr Rees, he said: “He got knocked out. His legs went like jelly.”
He described his friend immediately falling to the floor unconscious and making a “grunting” noise.
Mr Whelan told the court that while Mr Rees was on the ground he heard the defendant shout: “He’s paying for the f***ing van.”
He said he also heard him shout: “Have you got a problem?”
The witness stated he did not immediately recognise Shepherd and his friend Ricardo Morgan, but later recognised them from the gym.
Asked about the time of day, weather and light conditions, he said the incident took place in “broad daylight”.
The court heard Shepherd and his friend drove off, leaving Mr Rees unconscious.
Questioned about what happened next, Mr Whelan said: “People came out of the hospital. His father came. The ambulance. The police.”
The witness said he had to tell his friend’s father what had happened, saying: “I told him Jeff had hit him.”
Asked how he described the punch he told the court: “I said it was a hell of a whack. It was on the sly. He wasn’t expecting it.”
Mr Whelan said: “I watched them put him on a stretcher and put him in the ambulance. He was still unconscious.”
The court heard he went home and later sent a Facebook message to his friend, knowing he was in hospital, but not knowing what condition he was in. In that message he asked if Mr Rees was all right, said he was “gutted” by what happened, described Shepherd as a “sly c***”, and told his friend to get in touch.
Asked what he meant, he said: “It was uncalled for. It was out of order. There was no need for that. It was all over a van. Someone has died.”
When questioned during crossexamination by David Elias QC about why he did not immediately give a full account to the police, Mr Whelan said: “We thought he would be all right.”
On the first day of the trial, prosecutors said Shepherd alleged Mr Rees had damaged his van by punching the passenger door and arranged to meet him to discuss payment.
The court heard the men met in the hospital grounds, with other friends present.
The court was told that paramedics found Mr Rees, who had a fouryear-old son, unresponsive and struggling to breathe. He was given CPR and rushed to the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend.
Prosecutors said he was treated for swelling to the brain and put on a life support machine, before being transferred to the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, where he underwent an operation to relieve pressure on his brain.
Mr Rees was given further emergency treatment over the next three weeks until his life support was withdrawn and he was pronounced dead on September 20 last year.
Pathologist Dr Stephen Leadbeatter found the cause of death to be a traumatic brain injury.
Shepherd, 45, from Dros Col in Llanharry, denies manslaughter on the grounds he was acting in selfdefence.
The trial continues.