Witness tells Karol Kelly murder trial of ‘threat to kill’

Evidence was being given by a woman who lived on the opposite side of Grafton Street from where the incident started.

Brothers Gary Anderson (25) and Sean Anderson (23), both of Grafton Street, and Michael Dunlop (21), of Fern Park in Derry, are all charged with the murder of Karol Kelly in Derry on March 4, 2018.

Dunlop is further charged with attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent on Mr Kelly and doing an act with intent to pervert the course of justice on the same date by attempting to conceal knives.

The woman told the jury she had been lying in bed when she heard people running in the street.

She said she had heard someone shout, ‘get him’, and, then, the running people had gone up the street, only to return a short time later.

The witness said she then looked out of the window and saw three men, ‘a tall one, a short one and a bald one’.

The jury of eight men and four women were told that the shorter man banged the bald man’s head off a van and he fell to the ground.

She said that, at that point, the tall man began kicking at him ‘really aggressive’. The woman said she had shouted out the window for him to stop or she was going to phone the police.

She said she shouted: “I can see what you are doing, stop, I am going to phone the police.”

The witness said that, when she shouted, the shorter man seemed to step back from the incident.

The court heard that another man then appeared - described as being ‘overweight and out of breath’ - who went over to the man on the ground.

The woman said she went down to the street and shouted, ‘You better not kill him’. She said the overweight man then shouted at her: “Shut up or I will f-----g kill you, too.”

The witness said that she recognised the tall man and the overweight man as people who lived in the street.

Later, she said she saw police arrest two men - the tall man and the overweight man.

The trial continues.