Man landed on knife in park fight, witness tells murder trial
A man who died after a fight in an Oswestry car park jumped on to the knife that killed him, a jury has been told.
Danny Jones, 21, died from a single stab wound to his stomach after the fight on April 24 in the Oak Street car park.
Richard Reece, 19, denies murder but accepts he was holding the knife when Mr Jones was injured.
And a witness has told the trial at Birmingham Crown Court that he saw Mr Jones, who lived in Chirk, jump towards Reece and land on the knife.
Joshua Fretwell, 17, was at the recreation ground next to the car park when Mr Jones and Reece began fighting shortly after 8pm.
He told the jury how he watched Mr Jones chase Reece around the car park and that after about 10 minutes Reece ran away towards his home in Lord Street.
"Ricky walked into the car park with the weapon and then stood there," he said.
"Danny was about 10m away from him. I saw him run towards Ricky and jump and go to kick him. That's when I think he landed on the blade.
"I think Ricky lifted the blade up when Danny started towards him. He didn't push it anywhere though – I think it was like a flinch. I didn't see any action by Ricky to go for him with the weapon.
"Then Ricky ran off towards his house and I saw Danny keel over on the floor."
Mr Fretwell said Reece's girlfriend Zoe Pallatina and their friend Ian Gill then ran over to help Mr Jones.
"I could see blood coming out. Ian had his hand on the wound," he said.
"Zoe said 'Are you alright' to Danny but he couldn't get his words out. He couldn't say anything.
"She said to call an ambulance."
Under cross examination Mr Fretwell admitted that he didn't actually see the knife go in to Mr Jones, but said it had "made sense" that that was what had happened.
The trial continues.
