A man accused of shooting a student in the testicles has told a court he was "hanging around with the lads" at the time. Damon Elliott is alleged to have been the trigger man during four separate shootings and a gunpoint robbery in Everton and Wavertree.
This saw one "entirely innocent" victim caught up in a firearms discharge while watching snowfall in Everton Park with his friends late at night. Another man was meanwhile forced to strip by a gunman and left naked in the street before two drug dealers were shot within the space of around half an hour.
Defendant gives evidence at Liverpool Crown Court
Elliott is currently on trial at Liverpool Crown Court accused of firearms offences in relation to the incidents, which reportedly came against the background of a dispute between rival groups based in Kensington and the Breck Road area of Anfield. Co-defendants Kehinde Akinyele and Tony Clayton similarly deny the charges.
Wearing a white shirt, black tie and glasses in the witness box, Elliott gave evidence to the jury of seven men and five women yesterday, Tuesday. In his cross-examination, lead prosecution counsel Nigel Power KC asked him why he had been in phone contact with Kayden Madine before he was shot in Wavertree Botanic Gardens on May 19 2023.
But Elliott told the court that this had related to him purchasing cannabis and said: "He sells better weed, top shelf, premium weed. That's what I like to smoke."
Phone data and Google searches
With cell siting data having shown his phone to be in the same area at the time of the shooting, Elliott said: "I'm just constantly moving round. I was looking for a new area where we could probably start something. I'm not saying that's specifically what I'm doing. I'm saying more than likely."
Questioned over when he had heard that Mr Madine had been shot, Elliott told the jury that "rumours got spread about" and said he would have been informed by "the lads by the shop where we go and smoke weed sometimes". With Mr Power having asked whether he had called "to see how he was" in the aftermath of the incident, he responded: "No, somebody said it's been seized off him [his phone]. All his items that he had on him, somebody said, one of his close mates. Everything on him was seized."
Alleged to have conducted Google searches concerning the shooting afterwards, Elliott instead said that his girlfriend had been responsible for this internet activity after she had "heard a few rumours too". Asked whether DNA findings which linked him to a bullet casing recovered from the scene of the shooting were "just a coincidence", he responded: "I don't know."
'Peacekeeping, calm, friendly drug dealer'
Another shooting on December 3 2023 then saw student Sudharsan Ragu shot in the scrotum, with drug dealer Wesley Hancock said to have been the intended target. Asked "how things were" between them, Elliott said: "I just got the blame for a robbery that I weren't involved in. It got sorted out. There was no problem. There's never been a problem. We're not the type of people to rob anybody."
With Mr Power having put to him that he was a "peacekeeping, calm, friendly drug dealer", Elliott said he was "seeing a few of the lads by the shop" at the time. The prosecution silk put to him that he had not mentioned this in his defence statement, a document submitted in advance of the trial outlining his case, and said: "The first time you have ever suggested that you were out with the lads, hanging around at the shop, was about 10 minutes ago, because you've made it up."
But 27-year-old Elliott, formerly of Adelaide Road in Kensington, said in response: "No, I just say I wasn't involved in the shooting. I'm telling the truth."
'It's nothing to do with me'
Mr Power then turned to the events of December 13 2023, when a drug user named Zac Cartwright was robbed and forced to strip at gunpoint before two drug dealers, Reece Jenkins-Lind and Jamie McGivern, were shot in separate incidents, the latter having similarly been struck in the testicles. This saw the defendant asked about a message which he had sent to his co-accused, in which he said: "Caught Zac out."
But Elliott denied knowing Zac Cartwright and instead suggested that this message related to a man named Zac Tierney, of whom he said: "He's just someone a bit older than me from the area. Nice, polite man."
"I can't say for definite it's Zac Tierney [being referred to in the message]. That's the only person I knew to be Zac. You're asking me about a message I can't even remember saying. I've done my best to try and remember. I cant remember."
With Mr Power having asked what Mr Tierney could have been "caught out" over, Elliot said: "Nothing major. Probably something minor. I don't know, something stupid."
Elliott went on to say of the night in question: "I was in that night. I know I was in that night. I know I've not been a part of any shootings, anything I've been put forward for. It's nothing to do with me."
Shootings carried out 'in support of Ryan Line'
Mr Power previously told the jury during prosecution's opening last month: "At about 25 past six on the evening of Friday the 19th of May 2023, so, in broad daylight, a warehouse worker called Andrzej Roguziak was exercising in Wavertree Botanic Gardens while his young daughter and her friend played nearby. Nearby, on Botanic Road, a man called Vincent Kay was loading his car."
"Mr Roguziak and Mr Kay both heard a number of gunshots. Mr Roguziak's little girl saw a male in a group, dressed in black, holding a handgun, and saw the flash from its barrel. Two men wearing dark clothing drove away on a motorbike. Motorbikes, dark clothing and guns are going to become a signature of what you hear about during the trial."
"About 20 minutes later, a teenager called Kayden Madine walked into the Royal Liverpool University Hospital with bullet wounds to his shoulder and his ankle. He had been in recent contact with the first defendant, Damon Elliott."
"Seven months later, now in darkness, a few minutes after midnight on Sunday, the 3rd of December 2023, a group of overseas students climbed to the top of Everton Park to see their first English snowfall. Sudharsan Ragu was photographing the view when shots were fired from a car."
"The car was in a car park on Rupert Lane, below him. A bullet went through his right thigh and lodged in his scrotum. Hours of surgery followed, then an arterial stent was inserted, and he is going to have to take medication for the rest of his life. But he was not the intended victim. It was a drug dealer called Wesley Hancock."
"Ten days after that, in little more than half an hour on Wednesday, the 13th of December 2023, three more young men were attacked in Everton. Zac Cartwright, a drug user, was robbed at gunpoint and left naked in the street. Reece Jenkins-Lind, a drug dealer, was chased, robbed of his electric bike and shot through the thigh. Jamie McGivern, also a drug dealer, was shot four times to the legs and groin."
"The same gun fired every one of those shots that we have just described, probably something called a Grand Power self-loading pistol. The prosecution case is straight forward. We say that the first defendant, Damon Elliott, was the gunman on each occasion. On the final of those three dates, the 13th of December, we say that the second and third defendants, Tony Clayton and Kehinde Akinyele, rode with him and took a full part in the robberies and shootings that occurred."
With Elliott described as being a drug dealer "associated with" a supply operation known at the "Ryan Line", the five separate incidents were alleged to have been carried out "in support of this drugs line". He has pleaded not guilty to three charges of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, four of wounding with intent and two of robbery.
Both 26-year-old Akinyele, of Gloucester Court in Kensington, and 29-year-old Clayton, of Baker Way in Kensington, deny possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, two counts of wounding with intent and two of robbery. The trial, before Judge Garrett Byrne, continues.
