The alleged killer said he found a thief who targeted his home, a friend from primary school, just seconds after fatally stabbing him in the neck.
Carl Townsend told the jury that he found out he knew Jordan Brophy after inflicting a number of fatal wounds on him after breaking into Townsend’s home. The 32-year-old man found Mr Brophy and two other men robbing his address in Halewood last year.
Prosecutors allege that Townsend then attacked Mr Brophy “in retaliation or punishment”, inflicting two sets of wounds on him, one at his home when he was found there and another a few minutes later on Beechwood Avenue. Townsend and his half-brother Jamie Cunningham, 23, have been tried in Liverpool’s Royal Courts of Justice for murder and possession of a blade. Both deny the allegations.
READ MORE:The killer claims the thief had a gun and heard someone say “shoot him”
The two are said to have armed themselves with knives after being warned by the doorbell on Ringsend’s Burglary Ring. Halewood At home. Prosecutors say they rushed to the address and confronted the intruders. Townsend is said to have been stabbed Mr. Brophy in the head and arm before stabbing him twice in the face.
A stab wound ran through his left optic nerve and damaged his temporal lobe. The Royal Court of Liverpool he heard Townsend and Cunningham leave the scene, but then returned when Townsend allegedly stabbed the “defenseless” 31-year-old into his jugular vein. Richard Pratt, a QC prosecutor, said Townsend did not dispute the cause of Mr Brophy’s death, but denied the murder.
The jury has now heard eyewitnesses to the scene, shown footage of the incident and heard from the pathologist who examined Mr Brophy’s body.
Today they heard evidence from Townsend itself. He told the court this morning that Mr Brophy had “stabbed” him in the hallway of his home after entering. Townsend said he feared for his life when he stabbed Mr Brophy in the head with such force that two parts of the knife remained stuck in his brain.
He also claims that one of Mr Brophy’s fellow thieves had a gun at the time, which led him to flee. Townsend returned to the streets minutes later and said he heard an unidentified man shout “shoot him” in his direction shortly before stabbing Brophy again, this time in the neck.
This afternoon, testifying about the latest alleged attack, Townsend said Mr Brophy had startled him outside on the street and the two had “collided”, during which he must have inflicted a wound on his jugular vein.
He told Annesta Weeks, QC, defending himself that after inflicting the injury, he finally saw Mr. Brophy’s face correctly for the first time and recognized him as a friend from elementary school. Footage shown to jurors earlier this week shows Townsend addressing Mr Brophy with “Jordan”.
Mrs. Weeks said, “When you saw his face, did you recognize him?” Townsend said, “Yes, I recognized him.”
Mrs. Weeks said, “How did you feel?” Townsend replied, “Disappointed because I knew him.”
Mrs. Weeks said, “Well, how did you know him?” Townsend said, “We went to elementary school together when we were kids.
Ms. Weeks said, “How old were you when you first knew him?” .
Townsend said that then Brophy denied that he was one of the thieves in the house, saying that he was the “driver”. He told the jury that while the two men only went to primary school together, he had seen Mr Brophy months before the incident after bringing his father home for Christmas.
Townsend said: “The last time I saw Jordan Brophy, he shook my hand to bring his father to Christmas dinner.
He later left the scene and went to his mother’s home, where he was arrested. Mr. Brophy bled to death on the street within minutes of being stabbed.
Mr Pratt is currently in the middle of his cross-examination at Townsend. The indictment alleges that Townsend’s description of the situation in his home, including the claim that he has weapons, is incorrect, and Brophy’s wounds show that he never tried to attack Townsend and only tried to defend himself.
The cross-examination will continue tomorrow.
Procedure
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