Pub shooting sparked by ‘disrespect’, jury told

A man fired a shot into a crowded pub after shouting in the street about being disrespected, a jury was told today.

Carlos Cassidy, 46, and his co-defendant Memis Kalmis, 44, had been drinking in the Poets Ale and Smokehouse earlier in the evening before the shot was fired.

Brighton Crown Court was told the pair were in a white Audi which was then caught on CCTV driving past the pub shortly after 10pm on 4 April this year, when the bullet was fired.

Both Cassidy, of no fixed abode, and Kalmis, of Stonery Road, Portslade, deny possessing a single charge of possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

Opening the prosecution case on the first day of their trial at Brighton Crown Court, Gareth Burrows told the jury they would be shown extensive CCTV from the night in question, as well as hearing witness evidence.

He said at interview, Kalmis had admitted driving the car and said Cassidy had fired the shots – but said he had tried to stop him.

In a prepared statement, Cassidy had denied having any part in the shooting, saying that after leaving the pub he had gone to drink at a friend’s house.

Mr Burrows said before the shot was fired, witness Paul Kay had heard shouting in the street. He said: “He says he hears someone say they were disrespected.”

He said another witness, Richard Osley, had also seen a man which the prosecution said was Cassidy shouting, and getting into the white car which then drove off.

Moments later, CCTV from inside the pub showed the moment the gun was fired. Mr Burrows said: “An interior camera from the Poets pub shows people reacting.

“What they are reacting to is a loud noise and what’s clearly happened is at that point the gun has been fired.

“The people in there are perhaps unclear as to what’s going on. The bullet is recovered from the pub by one of the bar staff and police are called.”

The CCTV the jury will be shown includes footage from the Exchange pub in nearby Goldstone Street, where the pair had first met up, with Cassidy’s girlfriend’s sister Sade Ward.

After an hour there, they moved to the Poets pub in Montgomery Street, with Cassidy driven in Ms Ward’s black Citroen and Kalmis driving his girlfriend’s white Audi.

Cassidy was seen getting into the Audi in Sackville Road, around the corner from the pub.

Mr Burrows said footage from the Poets pub shows the three of them talking to people inside, but nothing which would have obviously provoked any reaction.

The trial continues.