A murder trial has heard the final words a teenager said to his grandfather hours before he was stabbed to death at a friend's house in Caerphilly borough. Tristan Kerr, 17, had visited his friend Ieuan Crane's house at Lower Francis Street in Abertridwr to play Fortnite and smoke, but he was fatally stabbed at the property by Georgie Mears, a trial at Newport Crown Court has been told.
Grandfather's evidence
Mears, who is said to have stabbed Tristan with a Rambo-style knife at the property on February 5, denies murder. Mears, 19, is in the dock alongside Connor Palfrey, 24, Ricardo Elliot, 27, and Elexi Manny, 24. Palfrey, Elliot and Manny all travelled to Abertridwr with Mears on the night and are also accused of murder through joint enterprise. They all deny the charge.
On Wednesday morning the jury heard evidence from Tristan's grandfather, Jason, who lived with the teen in Abertridwr. In evidence read by junior prosecution barrister Andrew Kendall, Jason said that at around 3.30pm on the day of his grandson's death he had heard Tristan getting ready to go out to Ieuan's house. He said Tristan told him he loved him and that he would see him later on.
Jason said that at 5.45pm he received a phone call from the brother of a former partner saying Tristan had been stabbed and it "doesn't look good". He then drove to the property at Lower Francis Street and found Tristan on the floor with a woman performing CPR on him. He asked what he could do to help and was told to hold a towel over the site of the wound.
Prosecution case
"It felt like we were there for an age," Jason said, adding that by the time paramedics reached the scene a lot of people had gathered. Tristan was put into the back of an ambulance.
It is the prosecution case that the defendants were driven to the address by Manny and that "within moments" all four were walking inside Ieuan's house, where Tristan had been playing Fortnite with Ieuan and another friend Conah Davies, before Tristan was fatally stabbed to his chest in the living room by Mears.
The four defendants then fled to Hereford in a VW Polo being driven by Manny, the court has been told. Mears was captured on doorbell footage wearing different clothes, with the prosecution stating that his clothes and the knife were disposed of during the journey. Neither have been recovered by police.
Arrests and evidence
Mears, Palfrey and Elliot were seen walking away from the Keys Court flats in Hereford while Manny and Ms Holden drove away. Sometime later the three male defendants returned to the flat and spent some time waiting outside. Just after midnight Palfrey could be heard on doorbell footage pointing out that a window had been left open and telling Elliot to climb in, which Elliot did.
Manny's car had been stopped by police at 10.28pm and she was arrested. Armed police then attended Keys Court just before 6am the next morning and Mears, Palfrey and Elliot were also arrested.
On Wednesday the jury saw photographs of the scene and pictures drawn by a number of eyewitnesses during police interviews. Prosecution barrister Michael Jones KC said the court would return to the drawings in more detail next week. Photographs included those taken inside the flat at Lower Francis Street during the forensic examination of the property after Tristan's death. The jury was also shown photographs of the silver VW Polo car driven by Manny following her arrest, and of a 35cm-long piece of wood in the passenger footwell of the vehicle.
The jury also saw a medical diagram showing the internal and external injuries sustained by Tristan and the "approximate tracking" of a knife wound which went through Tristan's left lung and into the heart.
The court has previously heard how Tristan had an active Snapchat account on which he sent a message to 14 recipients which read: "Flake." Detective constable Matthew Emberton said the message was sent on February 5 at 3.50pm and he said the term flake meant cocaine. At 5.08pm Tristan then posted a story to his Snapchat account which was seen by Manny. A drugs expert said the story, which contained three arrows, had the hallmarks of a "flare message" showing a drugs line is open.
The barrister told the jurors they will return to the diagram when they hear evidence from the Home Office pathologist, which he said will be the week after next. The trial, which is expected to last four to six weeks, will resume on Monday.
