Two men kicked a stranger in the head and shoulder so brutally during a night out in Brighton he died of his injuries days later, a jury heard this morning.
Oliver Priddle, 26, and Niraj Amaidas, 25, are standing trial for the murder of Cameron Devlin, 34, who was attacked in North Street, Brighton, on Saturday 21 December 2019.
Mr Devlin, a sound engineer and recording studio boss, of Albany Villas, Hove, died five days later, on Boxing Day, Thursday 26 December 2019, in the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton.
This morning, a jury was shown CCTV of the attack, which happened at the top of North Street.
It showed Priddle approaching Mr Devlin, who was slumped outside Itsu. Four other men joined Priddle, and Mr Devlin is seen getting up and lunging at the group.
He later told police had had been slashing at them with his keys to get them to leave them alone.
The group then moves towards Burger King. Mr Devlin, Priddle and Amaidas fall onto the floor, and the latter two get up and kick Mr Devlin in the head.
He said a passer by, Jack Coe, witnessed the attack and then saw the men running off laughing and joking about it.
Jeremy Benson KC told the jury at Brighton Crown Court: “Mr Devlin died from sepsis which developed in damaged tissue around a fractured shoulder following the assault and that led to heart failure.
“It’s not in dispute that tragically that opportunities to treat Mr Devlin’s symptoms were missed – that does not take away the fact these defendants are criminally responsible for his death.”
He said on the night in question, Mr Devlin had been drinking in the city centre with friends, and had fallen into a deep depression in the early hours of the morning.
By 3am, he was on his own and ended up sat on the floor outside Itsu for at least half an hour, before Priddle and Amaidas found him.
After the attack, he told a security guard: “I probably deserved it”. When they asked what he meant, he told them: “Some men were getting aggressive towards me, I had to stand up for myself.”
Soon after, he told paramedics he had been in a deep depression, adding: “They started on me, they were slapping me in the fact and I fought back. I took out my keys and started slashing away because what I wanted to do was get them away from me.”
Mr Benson said Amaidas was arrested the same night at Brighton Station with three others. He told police he had defended himself from a man who had attacked him with keys, pointing to a scratch on his cheek.
Blood was also seen on his shoe. After being shown the CCTV of the attack, he denied he was the man in it.
Priddle was not arrested until after Mr Devlin had died. Police seized his phone, on which they found a Snapchat messaage to a friend, saying: “Shit kicked off. Some guy tried to fight me and rugby tackled me to the floor.
“I jumped up, saw red and kicked him in the face.”
They also found Google searches for manslaughter cases.
The trial continues.
