Jury out in Shrewsbury mass street brawl trial
A jury has finished hearing evidence in the trial of a man, woman and teenager from Shrewsbury accused of taking part in a mass street brawl.
In their closing speeches, barristers representing Thomas Barnes, 20, Demi Jennings, 22, and a 17-year-old youth, claimed the three defendants were not involved in an attack on Alex Owen on June 9, 2016.
Mr Owen was kicked, punched, headbutted and hit with an iron bar by a group calling itself the Sundorne Bad Boys in Round Hill, Coton Hill, Shrewsbury.
Mr Kevin Jones, for Barnes, said he had been a bystander and witnessed the attack from nearby. He denied being a member of the gang.
Mr Stephen Scully, for Jennings, said she had been standing at the top of the cul-de-sac smoking cannabis with a friend, which had been corroborated by witness accounts.
He said Jennings was older than the attackers, had no affiliation with the Sundorne Bad Boys, and the victim had not said one of the five or six people attacking him had been female.
Ms Debra White, for the youth, said witnesses at the scene identified him as being present, which he had never denied.
The case so far:
The only witness who named the youth as being involved in the assault, saying he had produced a knife and made threats, had admitted in her evidence that she did not like him. Ms White said the two families did not get on.
Ms White also told jurors the defendant wanted to be honest about his four previous convictions in the youth court, to prove to them he had always pleaded guilty when he knew he had done something wrong.
Barnes, of White House Gardens, Jennings, of New Park Road, and the youth all deny affray.
The jury is expected to be sent out to consider verdicts on Monday.
Two other defendants, Daniel Page, 21, of Summer Gardens, and Callum Parsons, 18, of Wingfield Close, were cleared of affray on Thursday after the prosecution said there was insufficient evidence.
Four others have previously pleaded guilty to their part in the attack.
