Man accused of Market Drayton street stabbing claims he was attacked first
A man accused of stabbing another man on a Market Drayton street claimed the victim and his friends ganged up on him and stamped on him.
Brad Birch, 21, who is on trial for assaulting Sam Almond, denies causing actual bodily harm and possessing a knife, and his police interview was read out in court.
Birch, of Red Bank Road in Market Drayton, claimed that Sam Almond and a group of his family and friends approached him as they were both on the town's Shrewsbury Road in the early hours of July 2 last year.
He said that he and his girlfriend Kara Green had gone for a walk and were arguing when Mr Almond spoke to him.
In the interview Birch said: "They all ganged up around me. He punched me and I punched him back. They all dragged me across the road and they stamped all over me.
"One of my teeth came out and I had a split lip."
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Birch claimed that Green was also being attacked by the group, and that he ran to a nearby house and banged on the door to try and get help when he got free.
Earlier Mr Almond's friend Tomas Burgess gave evidence and said that the group of friends was in good spirits after spending the day together at a music event in Audlem.
He said that Birch and Green attacked them after the two groups met on Shrewsbury Road.
Detective Constable Darren Holmes, who led the investigation, appeared in court and was questioned by Dean Easthope for the prosecution and Paul Smith, who represented Birch.
Previously Kara Green, 18, of Shrewsbury Road, Market Drayton, pleaded guilty to assaulting Lace Stance and Kirsty Sivill.
She stands to be sentenced at a later date.
The trial involving Birch continues.
