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Man Accusing of Killing Teen Also Allegedly Threatened Firefighter
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BBCNews via YellowBrix
January 21, 2010
NORTH BELFAST, UK – A man accused of stabbing a teenage boy to death also threatened an off-duty firefighter as he left the scene of the attack, it has been alleged in court.
Testifying at the Thomas Devlin murder trial, witness Laurence Kelly said two men walked past him on a road, moments before he found the dying boy.
Mr Kelly said the taller of the pair told him “we will do you too”.
Gary Taylor from Mountcollyer Avenue, Belfast and Nigel Brown of Whitewell Road in the city, both deny murder.
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Mr Kelly described how on the night of 10 August 2005, he was walking home along the Somerton Road in north Belfast after having a drink in the Lansdowne Hotel when two men passed him.
He said that as they approached him, the taller of the two ordered the shorter man to “cover your face” before making the threat against him.
The firefighter added that after the pair had walked past him, the taller told the other to “start running”, again in an ordering tone.
Mr Kelly told the jury that as they passed by, he could see “two bodies” lying further up the road and he immediately phoned 999 and a doctor friend who lived nearby.
The “bodies” were 15-year-old Thomas Devlin who died as a result of the stab wounds he received and his friend Jonathan McKee, who had been stabbed in the abdomen and beaten about the head with a bat.
Mr Kelly said that while Mr McKee almost immediately “jumped up” when he spoke to him, Thomas did not respond and did not open his eyes.
He said the injured Mr McKee kept repeating “They’ve stabbed Dev, they’ve stabbed Dev”.
The witness described how he and his doctor friend tried to resuscitate Thomas, without success.
Under cross examination, Mr Kelly agreed that despite attending six identity parades, he had not been able to pick out either defendant as the attackers.
Mr Taylor and Mr Brown also deny attempting to murder and cause grievous bodily harm to Mr McKee.
