‘Devastated’ to cause brother-in-law’s death
MAN ACCUSED OF MURDER SAYS HE DID NOT USE BIN AS WEAPON
A MAN told a jury he was devastated at having caused the death of his brother-in-law, but that it was unintentional and not murder, as the prosecution alleges.
Martin Casey, 30, claimed he had no idea how badly injured 28-year-old Billy Harty was when he left him lying in the road after a fight at 4.45am on October 25.
The two men were in a parked car outside Mr Harty’s home in Bedale Drive, Mowmacre Hill, Leicester, listening to music and drinking vodka, when they had a disagreement and ended up brawling in the street, Leicester Crown Court was told.
Casey, of Golf Course Lane, Braunstone, denies murdering Mr Harty. He pleaded guilty to an alternative count of manslaughter, at an earlier hearing, which was not accepted by the prosecution.
The Crown alleges the pair, who had spent the night drinking together, got out of Mr Harty’s car and grappled, before falling to the ground – where Mr Harty was repeatedly punched.
Casey then allegedly got up and struck him three times with a wheelie bin weighing 10kg.
Mr Harty, who was married to the defendant’s sister, suffered serious head injuries. He later died in hospital.
Giving evidence in his defence, Casey said both he and Mr Harty had taken cocaine that evening, at his caravan and in a pub.
The evening continued with vodka, with relatives and Mr Harty’s wife, at the site where Casey was staying.
The two men dropped Harty’s wife home, but remained parked outside the house for over three hours, drinking and playing music.
Casey, a father-of-three, told the court the disagreement happened when Mr Harty mentioned a fiveyear-old rumour – that suggested Mr Harty had once made an inappropriate approach to the wife of Casey’s brother – which Mr Harty denied, saying: “Do you think I’d do that to your brother?”
Casey said he did not believe the rumour, but did not want to discuss the matter with Mr Harty. This led to them both getting out of the car.
He told the jury: “Billy pushed me, we started grappling. We fell to the floor. I was on my knees and he was on his side. Billy bit on to my ear – it was very painful.”
Defence counsel, Diana Ellis QC, said: “From CCTV footage you appear to have been in that position (on the ground) for 10 or 11 minutes, why?”
Casey said: “Billy latched on to my ear, if I’d pulled my head away my ear would have ripped.
“I was punching him in the face, I don’t know why he didn’t let go.”
He said when Mr Harty eventually stopped biting him, he stood up and put his jacket on to leave.
Casey said Mr Harty was still on his side on the floor, so he picked up a nearby wheelie bin and “flicked rubbish over him” because he was annoyed at being bitten.
Ms Ellis asked: “Did you pick up the wheelie bin to use it as a weapon to hit him?”
Casey said no contact was made with the bin and Mr Harty.
Ms Ellis said: “When you left Billy did you have any idea he might be at risk of dying?” Casey replied: “No, no.”
The defence barrister said Casey, by admitting manslaughter, accepted if there had been no fight, Mr Harty would still be alive.
Asked how he felt about that, Casey said: “Devastated. He was like a brother to me.
“It’s affected the whole lot of us, we (the two families) were all very close.”
He said Mr Harty was also a work colleague, doing roofing and gardening jobs together.
During cross-examination, the prosecutor, Nicholas Lobbenberg QC, produced a picture of Mr Harty’s bloodied and injured face, which Casey refused to look at.
He asked the defendant how many of the injuries he had caused, but Casey said he did not know, as he could not see where his punches landed while his ear was being bitten.
Mr Lobbenberg said: “There are 41 separate injuries on Billy. With the exception of your ear injury, the injuries to you were trivial.”
Casey went on to say Mr Harty was conscious when he jogged away from the scene and was able to throw aside some of the rubbish tipped on top of him.
He said: “I didn’t strike him with the bin.
The court heard that having been told Mr Harty had died he went to a police station and handed himself, on October 26, saying they had been in a fight, but then gave “no comment” interviews, on the advice of his solicitor.
In his closing speech, the prosecutor said: “He couldn’t bring himself to look at the picture of (injured) Billy Harty and the reason he couldn’t look at the picture is because he knew what he’d done – he used that bin as a weapon.”
The trial continues.