A JURY has heard how eyewitnesses saw a grounded man being struck up to “20 times” with a metal bar during a “vicious” night-time attack in Kendal.
Two men – Luke Peter Canning, aged 22, of Bridge Street, Burneside, and 26-year-old Jordan Lee Jenkinson, of Lound Road in Kendal – are on trial at Carlisle Crown Court. They each deny a charge alleging they attempted to murder 33-year-old Richard Wilkinson at Waterside in Kendal at around 1-30am on March 30.
The court has heard Mr Wilkinson was involved in a row with Canning and Jenkinson – whom he knew – outside a town bar, which he left before returning with a metal dumbbell bar. After head-butting Canning, he was seen running down an alley with the pair in pursuit before being disarmed and attacked.
Mr Wilkinson suffered facial fractures, lost teeth and had no memory of an attack which left him needing surgery and spending more than a week in hospital. The court has heard Canning admits causing him grievous bodily harm with intent – a charge Jenkinson denies.
Today (TUES), jurors heard the accounts of eyewitnesses who saw the attack and Mr Wilkinson “covered in blood”.
Matthew Fleming told in a statement how he watched from his nearby flat as a figure repeatedly struck what he initially thought was the ground with a metal bar. He then realised a male was being hit, despite a female neighbour bravely trying to distract the attacker.
“He looked at her and just carried on hitting the male on the ground with the metal bar. I don’t know how many times he hit the male – roughly between 10 and 20 times,” stated Mr Fleming, who later learned the grounded man was his step-brother.
“The attack on the male was vicious. He was using the full force of his body to hit the male on the ground with the metal bar. I just went into shock mode.”
Mr Fleming, who called police, heard the injured man “screaming, shouting and moaning”.
Another Waterside resident, was woken by noises. He heard a male in black clothing issue repeated threats before carrying out an attack with a 2ft-long object which “connected with the male on the ground’s head area”.
“He had swung the object with such force that it looked as if he didn’t care if he took the male on the ground’s head off. It was a full-powered downward strike with one hand,” said the resident. The trial continues.
