Alleged murder victim cried ‘help me, help me’ as he fell
FOUR PEOPLE ARE ON TRIAL OVER STABBING DEATH OF DAVICES ANDERSON
DISTURBING footage played to a jury at a murder trial showed a 22-year-old Nottingham man crying “help me, help me” as he collapsed in the entrance to a block of flats having been fatally stabbed.
On the clip, Davices Anderson is seen bleeding from a number of wounds to his body having been attacked with a weapon by Courtney Mcleary, the prosecution say.
A passer-by, at the junction of Huntingdon Street and Woodborough Road in the city centre, is then seen trying to help Mr Anderson while staff at the communal block call the emergency services.
Mr Anderson was declared dead around 90 minutes later having suffered “at least three” wounds to his body.
Mcleary, 54, and a second man, David Francis, 61, are on trial at Nottingham Crown Court for the murder of Mr Anderson. They deny the charge.
Two more men – Gregory Bailey and Danny O’keefe, both 50 – are also on trial having been charged with assisting an offender in relation to the same incident. They too deny their involvement.
Prosecutor Andrew Vout KC, opening the trial, said: “At about a quarter to eight on the morning of April 28, 2023, Davices Anderson was stabbed at least three times. One stab wound was to the left side of his forehead, one stab wound was to his left thigh and one stab wound was to his chest. The weapon used to inflict this wound penetrated the chest wall and then entered his heart. “Courtney Mcleary and his friend, David Francis, were parties to the attack in which those injuries to Davices Anderson were caused. Davices staggered out of the flat where this had happened, down some stairs, and into the communal area of the block. People remained in the flat, where the stabbing had occurred, for several minutes after the injured Davices had left, they [being] Courtney Mcleary and his friend David Francis.
“As Davices was in the downstairs hallway, dying, they set about concealing evidence of what had happened. That took about five minutes.
“Then Courtney Mcleary and David Francis left the flat and made their way to the ground floor. They found Davices on the hallway floor, obviously in great distress. Courtney Mcleary simply stepped over Davices and left, in order to hide himself and hide evidence of what happened.
“He would be assisted in this business over the following hours and days by Gregory Bailey and Danny O’keefe.
“David Francis stayed with the dying Davices Anderson, posing as someone who had simply, by chance, come across an injured man in distress. David Francis gave the impression of being a Good Samaritan. That was not true. In fact, David Francis was also hiding evidence of what happened.
“He was making sure that no one heard Davices speak about what had been done to him and he was concealing an item that could have been used to inflict some of Davices’ injuries.
“Courtney Mcleary would later tell the police that Davices Anderson had been stabbed during a struggle when David Francis jumped on them both. David Francis said that Courtney Mcleary was being aggressive to Davices Anderson and that he, David Francis, had had to pull Courtney Mcleary away from Davices Anderson.
“We say that you can be sure that Courtney Mcleary and David Francis were parties to the attack in which those injuries to Davices Anderson were deliberately caused. Both of them intended to cause Davices Anderson really serious harm.”
A jury of seven women and five men were told that Mr Anderson, known as “Ricardo” and also “YD,” was “someone who had become involved in criminality”, “targeting and robbing people of drugs, including local drug dealers, and he had also “sold fake drugs to people” and that “this behaviour had upset a lot of people”.
Mr Vout said on the evening before and the morning of his alleged murder a number of people had gone back to Mcleary’s flat in High Cross Leys and that drugs had been taken. He said while there Mcleary had stabbed Mr Anderson.
He said: “By 7.30am on the morning of Friday, April 28, five individuals remained at the flat and what happened next was that Courtney Mcleary stabbed Davices Anderson and David Francis acted with Courtney Mcleary in the attack on Davices.
“We say that Courtney Mcleary and David Francis were in it together. Mr Anderson sustained a number of stabs and incised wounds. One wound was to the chest, which penetrated his heart. Mr Anderson left the flat and staggered down the stairwell. He was shouting ‘help me, help me.’ Mr Anderson stumbled and fell to his left onto the floor and landed on his back. He kept on saying ‘help me, help me.’
“Mr Anderson remained on the ground floor, near to the door into the street, in some distress. A passerby saw Mr Anderson and immediately appreciated that he was seriously injured and called the police. Courtney Mcleary and David Francis came down to the ground floor together in the lift and Mr Francis was carrying a bottle of vodka in each hand.”
The trial of Mccleary, of High Cross Leys; Francis, of Swale Grove, Bingham; O’keefe, of Keswick Court, Sneinton, and Bailey, of Comyn Gardens, St Ann’s continues.