The victim of an alleged murder attempt has told a jury he thought his attacker had punched him in the stomach when he stood up after being hit to the back of the head.
It was only after the attack on him by Adrian Brock had ended that Ryan Casey realised he had been stabbed, the jury at Warwick Crown Court has heard.
As we reported yesterday, Brock (45) of Lower Precinct, Coventry, has pleaded not guilty at Warwick Crown Court to attempted murder, although he has admitted an alternative offence of wounding Mr Casey with intent.
The attack took place on Sunday October 2 last year as Mr Casey was sitting at a table outside the Holyhead pub in Holyhead Road, Coventry.
He was with his wife Laura, who had left him for Brock but had gone to the pub with a friend of hers after having a row with Brock that day, the court has heard.
As he was sitting talking to the two women, Brock came up behind him and kicked out at him before hitting him to the back of the head.
Giving evidence on the second day of the trial, Mr Casey said: “I remember the first blow, and then a couple more. The first one was with real impact.”
Zafar Ali, defending, commented that he then stood up, and put to him: “You were not being restrained in any way.” Mr Casey replied: “No.”
Mr Ali added: “You were able to get your bearings and face Mr Brock. He was two yards away from you.” And Mr Casey agreed.
It was put to him that Brock then punched him, and Mr Casey responded: “He punched me initially, and obviously I thought he punched me again in my stomach.”
Mr Ali suggested: “He was saying something, something like ‘You want some?’ He was offering you out.”
Mr Casey said he could not remember exactly what was said, but that Brock’s body language was aggressive.
The barrister put to him: “You don’t remember saying to him ‘Let’s have it’?” Mr Casey answered: “No.”
But he agreed with Mr Ali’s final suggestion that Brock stabbed him ‘on two occasions, and left.’
Prosecutor Matthew Farmer asked Mr Casey: “Did you have a knife?” His reply was: “No.”
Asked if he had wanted to have a fight with Brock, he commented: “At that particular moment, no.”
He explained: “I broke up with Laura in March. By the time of the attack much of the pain I had felt had gone. I had affections for someone else then.”
Mr Casey accepted he had been angry in November 2015 after finding out about his wife’s affair with Brock.
“We got back together, but broke up about Christmas, then got back together at the turn of the year, but broke up again in March.
“To be honest, I had had it up to here with everything. It was time to get away from it.”
The jury has heard that after being stabbed, and losing a lot of blood, Mr Casey was rushed to hospital where he underwent an emergency operation for life-threatening injuries to his stomach and abdomen.
Meanwhile, Brock had been arrested in the street, and admitted to officers: “I wanted to kill him.”
He said he was ‘disappointed’ when he was told that Mr Casey had survived, because he thought he’d done enough, and in his interview he said on about ten occasions that he had intended to kill Mr Casey, Mr Farmer has told the jury.
He told officers he had walked from his home with the knife in his pocket with the intention of stabbing him to kill him, adding that he did not do it to slash, but to kill.
“He said he had wanted to get Mr Casey for a long time. He said that once he gets out of prison he will hunt down Mr Casey and finish the job.”
Mr Farmer commented: “The defendant is saying now that he did not intent to kill him. The prosecution say he most certainly did intent to kill him.”
The trial continues.
