Man ‘stabbed to death by trio in broad daylight’
AN alleged murder victim was stabbed to death by three men in broad daylight, a court has heard.
Lynford Brewster, 29, died following an argument with one of the men accused of killing him, Jake Whelan, jurors were told.
Cardiff Crown Court heard how the victim was found to be carrying 31 wraps of heroin and 14 of cocaine and was involved in a “drug-running” operation.
Whelan, 24, of no fixed abode, Robert Lainsbury, 22, of Kidderminster, and Dwayne Edgar, 29, of Llanedeyrn, Cardiff, all deny murder.
Vincent Coughlin, prosecuting, told Cardiff Crown Court: “Earlier this year on Sunday, June 12, in broad daylight in the middle of a quiet residential estate in Llanedeyrn, Cardiff, a 29-year-old man named Lynford Brewster was attacked by these three defendants.
“It was in broad daylight in front of residents of that estate.”
In the course of the attack Mr Brewster was stabbed once to the back of the chest, which entered the lung, and suffered a stab wound to the back of the right thigh and another leg wound to the back of the left thigh. Despite prompt arrival of paramedics he was pronounced dead at the scene,” Mr Coughlin said.
The court heard Brewster lived near the murder scene with his partner Samantha Brewster.
“Samantha Brewster will be an important witness,” Mr Coughlin said. “Dwayne Edgar, the first defendant, lived close to the scene of Mr Brewster’s death.
“It’s about a three-and-a-half-minute walk. Samantha Brewster had been at an incident between her boyfriend Lynford and the third defendant Jake Whelan. Whelan may have been hurt in the course of things.
“That argument was a heated argument that ended with Mr Whelan driving a black Ford Fiesta away from Cardiff to the Midlands.”
The prosecution’s case is that Whelan returned that evening “bringing some muscle” with him in the form of Lainsbury and the pair met up with Edgar who lived nearby.
Mr Coughlin said: “They left with the intention that all three would attack Mr Brewster.”
The court heard that one witness “saw the three men chasing Mr Brewster, each armed with a knife”.
Mr Coughlin continued: “Given the number of injuries the prosecution will say these three men set out to find him and kill him or cause him at the very least serious bodily injury.”
He showed the jury a knife believed to have been used in the attack.
Mr Coughlin called the weapon “ugly and sizeable” and said it bore “blood matching that of the defendant”. “It was discarded by one of the defendants that fled the scene,” he said. “It was recovered on a path on a woodland track that leads from the scene of the murder in the direction of Mr Edgar’s home.”
A black sheath that fitted the blade was found nearby.
“Scientists who examined it think it is likely that the knife has come from the sheath,” Mr Coughlin said.
He told the jury DNA was recovered from it and cellular material from Edgar and Whelan was found.
The court heard the victim’s knuckles were also swabbed and DNA from Lainsbury was found.
Mr Coughlin said: “We don’t know what the motivation was for the defendants to kill the deceased. They were the three men who carried out the fatal assault on Mr Brewster.”
The court heard Edgar and Whelan were friends and were in regular phone contact, including on the day of the attack.
Lainsbury was a friend of Whelan who lived in the Worcester area at the time of the alleged murder. The court was briefly shown footage of the Brynfedw estate in Llanedeyrn where the alleged attack took place.
They were also shown footage of the black Ford Fiesta containing the defendants on June 12.
The trial continues.