JURORS were shown a video of the man accused of the murder of Tanis Bhandari waving two meat cleavers at a group of men in Plymouth city centre just two weeks before the incident in Tamerton Foliot.
The footage was shown after prosecutors succeeded in making a bad character application which allowed them to present to the court details of previous convictions of both Donald Pemberton, from Victoria Road, St Budeaux and Ryan Williams, from Haydon Grove, St Budeaux.
Williams last week pleaded guilty at Plymouth Crown Court to the murder of Mr Bhandari in the early hours of New Year's Day, three counts of wounding with intent and one count of causing actual bodily harm. Pemberton, aged 21, denies all charges.
The court was shown footage captured on the city centre cameras at around 1.15am on December 15, 2014.
Prosecutor Simon Laws QC explained how Pemberton and three others got a taxi to the city centre. They encountered a man who later told officers he had seen two men running past him who appeared "looking scared and frantic".
He told police the four men confronted him, asking him about the other two men. He told investigators they told him they "wanted to teach them [the two men] a lesson". The court heard he described them as "intimidating, confrontational, angry"
One of the men, who was later identified as Pemberton, produced two "butcher type knives" and exclaimed "we're going to cut them up".
The footage was then shown and reveals Pemberton in a hoody top holding the two meat cleavers hunched over in a doorway behind the Toys R Us store.
The footage goes on to show him brandish the weapons, striking them together and making overarm chopping gestures towards a group of men he appeared to be shouting at.
The court was told Pemberton and the others with him had been shouting up to a group of Polish me inside a nearby set of flats shortly beforehand.
During the footage, Pemberton was seen to be running back and forth, shouting at the men and directing his colleagues towards the opposing group while still waving the cleavers.
The court was told Williams had a number of previous convictions. In March 2009 he was convicted of being in possession of offensive weapons - a hammer and golf club – in St Budeaux Square. In August the same year he was charged with affray and criminal damage after intimidating a neighbour and making threats to kill by burning down the neighbours' housing with his children inside. The court was told the neighbour had to move home but when he came to collect his belongings, Williams attacked him with a garden spade.
In June 2010 Williams was found in a public place with a 5 inch kitchen knife.
In March 2011 he threatened a bus driver with a kitchen knife after brandishing the weapon and saying: "I will stab you up, cut you up you pussyo".
On December 2011 Williams was arrested after threatening a woman in Torpoint. On arrest officers found a 12 inch kitchen knife.
Pemberton, pleaded guilty to battery after an unprovoked assault on a man on December 24, 2013 outside Jesters nightclub in Union Street. The court was told he "swore and taunted a male" who walked away. Pemberton ran up to him and punched him in the face.
In September 2014 Pemberton pleaded guilty to an offence which took place in June the same year after he was found to be in possession of a machete in a public place.
Pemberton took the stand in his defence.
In answer to questions from his counsel, Martin Meeke, QC, the 21-year-old said he felt "embarrassed" by his behaviour on the video shown to the court.
When asked why he had pleaded guilty to each of his previous offences, he admitted he had done what he was accused of.
When asked why he had pleaded not guilty to the offences of New Year's Day, he replied: "Because I didn't stab anyone".
Pemberton revealed he bought £30 of mephedrone – known as 'bubble' – before going out on New Years' Eve, after seeking out a dealer he knew via Facebook.
He admitted getting into a Facebook argument with Dale Hewitt and Kane Swabey during the evening. Pemberton said his plan was to meet with Mr Swabey at a speed camera in Budshead Road.
When asked what he thought about the tone of the exchanges between himself and Mr Hewitt on Facebook he replied: "It's not nice is it. I was being rude to his mum. It just got out of control, y'know."
He told the jury Mr Swabey asked to meet him in Budshead Road, but said the former friend was known to him to carry weapons.
Pemberton said: "He said he was on his way to my mums. He used to be my friend and knows where my mum lives."
In response to posts by Mr Swabey, which Pemberton claimed were later removed from his thread leaving only his own comments, he wrote at around 1am on New Years' Day: "I said Tamerton Foliot Kane you little ****head. Come here braveheart. Mate shuttup you grass. I know what you're about you scouse wannabe. Haha, I will be there in 25"
He admitted getting the axe from a shed at the party he was attending in Cunningham Road, Tamerton Foliot, but in response to questions from Mr Meeke, he denied knowing Williams had taken a large kitchen knife from the property.
The trial continues.
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