A MAN who was stabbed in the moments after his teenage friend was knifed to death yesterday described the attack as “frenzied” and “brutal”.
Giving evidence at the Belfast Crown Court trial of Nigel James Brown (26) and Gary Taylor (23), Jonathan McKee told the jury “frenzied would be the best word” to describe the attack on August 10th, 2005.
He told prosecution counsel Toby Hedworth: “As it was unprovoked it was scary how ferociously he was swinging at me and just sort of how brutal it was more than anything.”
Mr Brown, from Whitewell Road and Mr Taylor, from Mountcollyer Avenue, both in north Belfast, are accused of the murder of Thomas Devlin (15), and of the attempted murder of Mr McKee (22). They are also charged with attempting to inflict grievous bodily harm on Mr McKee.
The jury has already been told it is the prosecution case that Mr Brown was armed with a wooden bat and that Mr Taylor had a knife when they launched an unprovoked attack on three friends as they walked along the Somerton Road in north Belfast, close to where the pair then lived in the Mount Vernon estate.
Mr McKee told the court yesterday the three friends – himself, Thomas Devlin and Fintan Maguire – had no idea they were in any danger as they walked along chatting.
He said he had spotted two men, one tall and the other short, a good distance behind them walking a small black dog and that the only warning they got of the imminent attack was when Mr Devlin shouted “run”.
Mr McKee said the pair shouted something like “f***ing bastards” but only got a few steps before he felt blows raining down on his head and shoulders.
He told Mr Hedworth that as he stumbled and fell he saw the taller of the two, allegedly Mr Taylor, run past him towards where Mr Devlin and mr Maguire were.
Asked if he had managed to see the weapon used on him, Mr McKee said he caught a glimpse of a “varnished piece of wood” between one and two feet long as it was “wildly swinging” at his head and body.
He said when the attack finished and his assailant ran off, he got himself together to see if he could see his friends and that was when he spotted Thomas lying face-down half on the kerb and half on the road.
“I noticed that he was lying there and looked vacant more than anything,” said Mr McKee, adding that Thomas’s attacker then came at him, swinging one blow at his ribs before grabbing him by the hood and landing more blows to his back.
He told the court: “I just thought I had been hit or jabbed with a bottle at the bottom of my rib cage”, adding that as Taylor allegedly “swung wildly” at his back, he smelled paint as he was struck up to six times.
The trial continues.