Neighbour ‘saw man’s last breath’
THE trial of a man accused of brutally murdering a pensioner after going to his flat to exchange sex for alcohol has heard from a neighbour who saw the dying man’s last breath.
The battered body of 76-yearold David Phillips was found at his home on the evening of Valentine’s Day this year.
The bachelor had suffered significant blunt-force trauma injuries to his face, neck and chest, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Thomas Carney admits he killed the pensioner – but the 28-yearold denies it was murder.
On the second day of evidence at Swansea Crown Court the jury heard from a neighbour of the deceased from Lime Grove in Cimla, Neath.
Eleri Davies told the court she was watching TV on the evening of February 14 when she heard bangs that were so loud they made the window of her living-room shake.
She said she went outside to investigate, and saw a man disappearing through the smashed door of her neighbour’s flat.
Ms Davies said moments later she saw the blinds in her neighbour’s front room move, and through the gap saw the defendant “raging” in the room.
The witness told the court she went into the property to see if her neighbour was OK, and saw Mr Phillips lying on the floor in his dressing-gown being brutally attacked by the intruder.
Ms Davies described seeing Carney repeatedly stamping on her neighbour and “pounding on his face”.
She said: “There was a lot of language. It was pure rage. He was just doing this movement.” She then repeatedly stamped her feet in the witness box.
Ms Davies said she shouted at the attacker to stop, but when he
looked up at her she became concerned for her own safety, and went back to her flat to call 999.
The court heard she later returned to Mr Phillips’ flat – after Carney had left – and went to the stricken man.
She said he had a “weak pulse”, and she saw his chest move a little.
She told the court: “I think, to be truthful, it was his last breath.”
Ms Davies also told the court that her neighbour had “kept himself to himself” but that his homosexuality was no secret. She said that as far as she knew he didn’t have a partner – but did have male visitors to his flat.
She said: “He had young men aged between 20 and 30. They would come up in a taxi, do their business, and go.”
Also giving evidence was Andrew Jones, who lived above Mr Phillips and who accompanied Ms Davies into the flat on the second occasion.
He described seeing a body on the floor with “very serious” head injuries – injuries so bad he could not really recognise his neighbour.
He said: “Both sides of his face were purple... it only had slits for eyes. I thought he was dead.”
The court has previously heard that Carney and Mr Phillips were both alcoholics who had met at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in Neath, and who had been in regular phone contact.
Carney, of Llys Dur in Morriston, accepts he went to the pensioner’s flat on the night in question to perform sexual favours in return for alcohol.
He claims that while he was there Mr Phillips tried to rape him.
He has admitted manslaughter but denies murder.
After the fatal assault Carney fled the pensioner’s flat.
Carney was subsequently found by police a short distance away, hiding in a garden in Pine Grove.
At Swansea Central police station later that night he spat in the face of the custody sergeant while shouting and screaming at officers and being “non-compliant” with the booking-in procedure – he has admitted assaulting a policeman in relation to this incident.
The trial, which is expected to last three weeks, continues.