Uncle and nephew Paul Rosser and Joshua Cullen are accused of murdering Joshua Norman on a Swansea road
The barrister of a person accused of murdering a pal by stabbing him within the throat with a damaged glass bottle has informed jurors there are “far too many items of the jigsaw lacking” for them to make sure of his shopper’s guilt.
Joshua Norman suffered a deadly harm to the neck within the Hafod space of Swansea in September final yr. Regardless of the very best efforts of passers-by and the emergency companies the 27-year-old couldn’t be saved and died on the scene.
Uncle and nephew Paul Rosser and Joshua Cullen are accused of murdering Mr Norman – a cost they each deny. The pair are on trial at Swansea Crown Courtroom earlier than Choose Geraint Walters.
It’s the prosecution case that after the three males had been pushed round Swansea on the morning of September 11 to purchase medicine an altercation developed between Mr Norman and Cullen in Higher Strand. It’s alleged that after the three males walked by means of the tunnel which results in Cwm Highway, 49-year-old Rosser smashed the glass cider bottle he was holding and used the makeshift weapon to stab Mr Norman within the throat whereas 32-year-old Cullen “assisted or inspired” him earlier than each males then walked off to Cullen’s flat in close by Griffith John Avenue “leaving Mr Norman to die within the gutter”.
It’s Rosser’s case that the damaged bottle got here into contact with Mr Norman’s neck after Mr Norman “lunged” at him and grabbed the merchandise from his hand whereas Cullen says he induced no harm to Mr Norman. For the newest courtroom experiences signal as much as our crime e-newsletter.
Each defendants exercised their proper to not give proof within the trial however in his closing speech to jurors Rosser’s barrister, Allan Compton KC, urged them take into account the proof rigorously and to not be swayed by the “emotive language” utilized by the prosecution and reject to its “hypothesis and guesswork”.
He stated the demise of Mr Norman was a “mindless and unhappy incidence” and a dramatic illustration of the impression of substance misuse on people and society, and he stated the “relentless consumption” of drink and medicines had led to the demise of 1 man and to 2 others being within the dock of a crown dealing with a homicide cost.
He informed the jury: “Do not make the error of pondering that as a result of any individual ended up useless it will need to have been a deliberate act versus silly, reckless behaviour pushed by what that they had been consuming and doing that day.”
The barrister reminded the jury that the defendant and Mr Norman had spent the night time of September 10 consuming and taking medicine at Mr Norman’s flat and he stated there was no proof of any aggression proven to Mr Norman by his shopper that night time nor on the morning of the incident.
He reminded the jury of unsolicited feedback made by the defendant following his arrest about Mr Norman turning into aggressive after smoking crack cocaine behind the automotive they had been travelling in and about Mr Norman headbutting and smashing the window of the Audi automobile. He then remind the jury about proof that they had heard of fragments of glass indistinguishable from that utilized in an Audi being present in Mr Norman’s hair, about him being seen with blood on his head and face after getting out of the automotive, and concerning the automotive in query being seen with its rear passenger window smashed.
Mr Compton stated the change in Mr Norman’s “psyche” after smoking crack and the “weird and excessive” act of somebody “launching their head by means of a automotive window” positioned what was to occur within the minutes that adopted in Cwm Highway “in a totally totally different context” as his shopper discovered himself coping with somebody “doubtlessly able to nearly something with none discover”.
The barrister stated his shopper, by his personal admission, had been on four-day “bender” of drink and medicines previous to the incident and stated Mr Norman had consumed “prodigious” quantities of alcohol and medicines – together with cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, and pregabalin – and stated it was not inconceivable to foretell how the “poisonous mixture of drink and medicines” would have affected him.
He requested the jury to contemplate if it was doable that when he noticed the damaged bottle within the defendant’s hand Mr Norman, in his “intoxicated and out-of-control state”, did the truth is make a “lunge” for the merchandise and “pull” it away from Rosser – as is Rosser’s case – which resulted within the bottle coming into contact along with his neck because it “arced backwards” in direction of him. He urged to the jury that it might discover the pathology proof, specifically of a slight downward observe of the laceration to the throat seemingly attributable to “average or much less power”, fitted along with his shopper’s model of occasions.
Mr Compton reminded the jurors that no hint of Mr Norman’s blood had been discovered on Rosser’s arms or garments and he stated if – because the prosecution say – the defendant had intentionally thrust the damaged bottle into Mr Norman’s neck they might discover it “shocking” that there was no hint of the sufferer’s blood on the defendant.
The barrister stated it was accepted that “within the regular world” the defendant ought to have stayed on the scene and tried to help Mr Norman however he stated: “We all know this isn’t the traditional world – it’s the chaotic world they lived in.”
He informed the jurors that “homicide is against the law of particular intent” however stated he would invite them to seek out what occurred in Cwm Highway was a “silly, reckless incident which might by no means had occurred if the lads weren’t intoxicated” and he stated it was a “dreadful accident involving two males who had proven no enmity in direction of each other”.
The barrister informed the jurors there may be “very actual and affordable doubt” within the case and “too many items of the jigsaw lacking” for them to make sure his shopper is responsible of homicide, including: “This isn’t a homicide case. It by no means was.”
Paul David Rosser, of McRitchie Place, Gendros, Swansea, and Joshua Lee Cullen, of Griffith John Avenue, Dyfatty, Swansea, deny homicide and a lesser various of manslaughter. The trial continues.
