Peacehaven man attacked drunk intruder with machete, court told

A Peacehaven man has gone on trial charged with carrying out a sustained machete attack outside his son’s house.

Anthony Cosstick is accused of attacking Audrius Guokas, a drunk Lithuanian man who was lost and incoherent but repeatedly trying to force his way into John Cosstick’s family home at about 1.30am.

A jury was told that Cosstick, 58, told police: “My son John rang me, screaming in a panic that he was being attacked in his own home. I went to help him.

“I saw a male who I do not know by my son’s home. He was shouting in a foreign language. He had blood all over him. He had no shoes on.

“It was like a horror movie. The man was mad. The man went back into my son’s home. His strength was like he was possessed.

“I stopped him to protect my son, his wife and two-year-old grandson who was screaming.”

Mr Guokas suffered several deep cuts to his chest, right shoulder, left arm, right hand and right knee, a dislocated right knee cap and a broken rib and broken right shoulder blade.

He had two operations and spent eight days in hospital, the jury at Hove Crown Court was told.

John Carmichael, prosecuting, said: “This man, Mr Guokas, is clearly present and a threat to the property and those within it. He’s acting in a zombie-like manner.

“To protect them and defend them, an amount of force can be used.

“When we saw the force that was actually used, a reasonable person would say … that was way too much.”

Cosstick, of Collingwood Close, Peacehaven, is on trial for wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) – a charge that he denied.

The jury was shown security camera footage, taken from the home of John Cosstick and his partner Samantha Hemblade, in Southview Road, Peacehaven.

It showed Mr Guokas picking up a wheely bin and throwing it on to the bonnet of a car on the driveway, spilling the contents, before trying to get into the house.

Mr Carmichael played a desperate 999 call made by Sam Hemblade as Mr Guokas hammered at the front door. She said: “We’re having a burglary… Please help … I’m really scared.”

John Cosstick said that Mr Guokas was covered in blood even before he forced his way into the house.

He ejected Mr Guokas from the house and hit him with a baton. He can be heard shouting at Mr Guokas to go away and crying: “Help me! Help me!”

John Cosstick’s mother Paula Chincharo turned up with a friend, Paula Bishop, and Mr Guokas followed them and briefly attacked one of them. Mrs Chincharo grabbed the baton and hit Mr Guokas.

Tony Cosstick arrived and attacked Mr Guokas with a weapon which Mr Carmichael said appeared to be a machete.

He shouted at the man to stay down until the police arrived but Mr Guokas kept standing up and was shouting and, at one point, chanting in Arabic.

He was also heard yelling, in English, “I’m coming back!” and in Arabic, “Allahu akbar!” (God is most great!)

The 999 operator told Sam Hemblade that she and John Cosstick would not be in trouble for using force to try to keep the intruder out of their house.

She urged them to lock the doors and await the police even after John Cosstick’s parents arrived.

The police took almost half an hour to arrive and the jury heard that others in the area had already made a number of 999 calls about Mr Guokas’s erratic behaviour.

The jury were told that John Cosstick was arrested but faced no action as a result of what had happened.

His mother, Paula Chincharo, 55, of Collingwood Close, Peacehaven, was later arrested and charged with assault causing actual bodily harm (ABH). She was tried and acquitted by a jury at Chichester Crown Court last month.

Today (Wednesday 16 August), Mr Carmichael closed the case for the prosecution.

He and Hannah Hurley, defending, are expected to make their closing speeches tomorrow and the judge, Recorder John Hardy, is due to sum up before the jury retires to consider its verdict.