Murder suspects battered 15-year-old before killing man, jury told
A 15-year-old youth has told how he was brutally attacked by two men shortly before they murdered somebody else.
He said he was punched, rugby tackled to the floor, kicked and had a glass lantern smashed over his head during the beating from Damon Sehra and his 32-year-old uncle Derek Brennan.
The teenager explained, while giving evidence to Wolverhampton Crown Court, that they had been smoking cannabis and drinking alcohol brought by the men to the address in Clarence Court, Oldbury, where he was temporarily staying on June 7 last year.
Everything was fine until until 22-year-old Sehra turned aggressive, the youth maintained.
"He said: 'Do you think you are bad. Are you dumb?' We were both standing up. I took my top off and started a fight. I punched him on the nose and he hit me on the jaw. It was punch for punch."
The witness claimed he was rugby tackled to the floor by Brennan and added: "I was on my back and they both started kicking my body and head very hard. They were saying: 'Are you mad, are you dumb?'"
Then he was allegedly hit over the head with glass lantern which, he claimed, was picked up from the living room fireplace by Brennan.
The teenager said: "I was on the floor with my hands over my head which kind of protected me. My blood was all over the wall. The two men wiped the blood off the wall and then exited quickly."
More from the trial:
Ms Caroline Haghey, defending Sehra, who admits assaulting the youth but denies attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent: "We don't dispute there was a fight. You were the aggressor acting the big man. That is what kicked this off." He rejected the claim.
Brennan accepts he was at the Clarence Court flat but denies taking part in the assault of the teenager, the jury has been told.
Mr Andrew Smith QC, prosecuting, informed them that a Nike trainer found at the Smethwick home of Brennan's long time partner, where he often stayed, had the youth's blood on it.
The two men fled straight to the home of Sehra's mother Lisa in Bristnall Fields where they allegedly ferociously battered her friend Amjad Khan shortly after midnight on June 8 and he died in hospital five days later without regaining consciousness.
Sehra, of no fixed address, pleads guilty to manslaughter on the ground of diminished responsibility but denies murder.
Brennan, from Halesowen Road, Netherton, pleads not guilty to all alleged offences.
The trial continues.
