Killers walked away as young man bled to death after being stabbed with a broken bottle, court told

Wales Online

2 days ago

Killers walked away as young man bled to death after being stabbed with a broken bottle, court told
Joshua Norman died after being stabbed in the throat with a broken bottle
Joshua Norman
(Image: Family photograph / South Wales Police )
Two men left a younger man they had been 'on a bender' with to bleed to death after stabbing him in the neck with a broken cider bottle, a court heard. Paul Rosser, 49, is accused of stabbing the victim in the neck, close to the Adam's apple, after breaking the top off a Thatcher's Katy cider bottle. His nephew Joshua Cullen, 32, is accused of encouraging or assisting him. Both allegedly then walked away, leaving him to die. Both men deny the murder or manslaughter of Joshua Norman, 27, in an attack that allegedly happened as they walked home through Swansea after buying drugs.
Mr Norman, who was pronounced dead at the scene after the incident in September last year, was described at the trial in Swansea Crown Court as a "loving son, father, brother, and uncle".
Opening the case for the prosecution Christopher Rees KC told the jury it was the crown's position that Rosser was the one who smashed a glass bottle and used it as a weapon to stab Mr Norman in the neck while Cullen "assisted or encouraged" the attack. He said both defendants were "part of a joint enterprise" to kill Mr Norman or at the least cause him really serious bodily harm.
The barrister told the court that Rosser and Mr Norman along with others had spent the night of September 10 last year in Mr Norman's flat in Matthew Street in Swansea smoking crack cocaine and drinking alcohol, and that the following morning the pair went out "trying to score" further drugs. For the latest court reports sign up to our crime newsletter
He said after buying alcohol from the CK's shop on High Street the pair walked to Griffith John Street and to the flat where Cullen lived with his mother, the defendant Rosser's sister. Just after 10.15am a black Audi A3 car arrived at the block and the defendants along with Mr Norman got in and were driven away.
The court heard the Audi drove to David Williams Terrace in Port Tennant making a detour on the way so Mr Norman could withdraw £150 in cash from an ATM. The prosecutor said the Audi stayed outside an address on David Williams Terrace for a short period before driving off and it was the prosecution case that the visit to the street was to buy drugs.
The jury was told that a short time later witnesses saw males getting out of a black Audi vehicle on Port Tennant Road and appearing to engage in an argument before getting back into the car and driving off.
The prosecutor said then that at 11.54am a driving instructor giving a lesson saw a black Audi car stop in the middle of the road on New Cut Road on the approach the Dyfatty traffic junction. He said three men were seen to get out - the defendants and Mr Norman - before the car drove off. He said the three men then took a footpath through a wooded area to nearby Upper Strand where a "confrontation" took place between Cullen and Mr Norman.
He said the three males then made their way north along Upper Strand and went through the tunnel to emerge onto Cwm Road where brothers walking over the tunnel on Bridge Street heard an argument in progress below them, though the siblings could not tell what was being said.
The prosecution say the fatal attack on Mr Norman happened 'in the shadow' of the tunnel on Cwm Road
(Image: Google )
The court heard that moments later a driver making a delivery to a business on Cwm Road saw a male - who the prosecution say was Mr Norman - waving a large branch around and trying to "fend off" two males who were described as standing "shoulder-to-shoulder". The two men then walked away to the Griffith John Street flats where they were caught on CCTV.
Mr Rees told the jury that by this point Mr Norman had already been fatally stabbed in the neck near the Adam's Apple with the broken bottle and was bleeding heavily.
The court heard that the delivery driver saw Mr Norman laying on the floor and went to help. A passer-by who was walking home from the JD Gyms in Parc Tawe also went to assist the injured man, and together the two men tried to stem the bleeding and perform chest compressions while on a 999 call.
The court heard that police and paramedics were soon on the scene and the Wales Air Ambulance also arrived but despite the best efforts of everybody at the scene Mr Norman could not be saved and he was pronounced dead at 12.55pm.
The prosecutor said Rosser was arrested on Cwm Road while Cullen was arrested at his flat on Griffith John Street at 1.35pm. He said when officers arrived at the flat they noticed the washing machine was in use and there were clothes in it.
The court heard that crime scene investigators subsequently recovered fragments of glass from a broken Thatcher's Katy Cider bottle from the tunnel end of Cwm Road which were found to have Mr Norman's blood on them. The jury was told that a subsequent post mortem examination of the deceased's body found sharp-force penetrating injuries in a circular pattern some 5cm in diameter on the front of the neck which had cut a vein.
The prosecutor said that following his arrest and remand Rosser made unsolicited comments to a probation officer in HMP Swansea that he had been on a three or four day "bender" prior to the incident and that on the morning in question had smoked crack and drunk alcohol. He said Rosser also told the officer that Mr Norman had been "aggressive" in the back of the car and had butted and smashed the side window, and that he said he later broke the bottle to "warn off" Mr Norman but the bottle came into contact with the neck when when Mr Norman "lunged" at him.
The prosecutor told the jury that in his police interview Cullen provided a written statement in which he said he "adamantly denied" the charge and denied inflicting any injuries on Mr Norman, saying Mr Norman had been aggressive towards him and had tried to bully him and start a fight because he was "sober and quiet".
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Mr Rees told the jury that it was the prosecution case that Rosser had smashed the bottle and used it to stab Mr Norman, and that Cullen had assisted or encouraged him. He said neither man had called for an ambulance or had tried to help Mr Norman as he bled to death in front of them, but rather they had walked away.
Paul David Rosser, of McRitchie Place, Gendros, Swansea, and Joshua Lee Cullen, of Griffith John Street, Dyfatty, Swansea, deny murder and manslaughter, and the trial continues.