A MAN accused of murder has been described by his own barrister as "foul mouthed", "monosyllabic and charmless", but who was also "long on threats, short on action".
Simon Laws QC for the Crown Prosecution Service and Martin Meeke, QC for Donald Pemberton – accused of the murder of Tanis Bhandari and injuring four others – began summing up their respective cases at Plymouth Crown Court today
Mr Laws said the 27-year-old builder died a "completely unnecessary death" while four other men – Sean Cordon, Jamie Healy, George Walker and Matthew Daw – all suffered "completely unnecessary injuries of various levels of seriousness."
He told the jury: "It comes to this – if two people commit a crime together then they are both guilty of it, if they are both taking part and both want it to happen."
He gave an example of two people deciding to rob a bank.
"They go out with guns to do it. One man will be the look out and never goes into the bank.
"The look out can hardly say 'I didn't take anything, I can't be guilty'", said Mr Laws. "No, it's a joint plan. Two men have done it together."
Mr Laws suggested that if one of the men went in and the other got the door slammed in his face, both were still taking part in the joint plan and were "liable for one another's actions".
He said Pemberton drew an axe and "went for the group" on the green at Tamerton Foliot in the early hours of New Year's Day.
The green in Tamerton Foliot on New Year's Day
Mr Laws said there were five key questions the jury had to consider and suggested the evidence presented in court answered those questions.
They were "what did Pemberton know about Ryan Williams by the time they got to the green", "did Pemberton know that Ryan Williams had a knife by the time he got to the green", "were the two of them a team that night", "who started the fight on the green" and "what can the medical evidence tell you in this case?"
He said Pemberton knew Williams "would fight with him", and knew he was "an aggressive young man" with a criminal record.
Mr Laws said it was "inconceivable" Pemberton did not know Williams had a knife.
Pemberton and Williams had posted photos of themselves holding weapons during their Facebook argument with Dale Hewitt and Dale's mother.
He described them as operating as a team as they intimidated and threatened people on the way through Tamerton Foliot to the green, working "hand in glove".
He said: "Two men drunk, carried away with the power their weapons brought them.
"This was never one man against a group, it was two.
"Williams stabbed the man who took him [Pemberton] on. Tanis Bhandari was involved in keeping him [Pemberton] on the ground. It was an act of great courage on his behalf and he paid for it with his life.
"He was stabbed because Ryan Williams was coming to the assistance of Donald Pemberton and for no other reason."
Ryan Williams - who has pleaded guilty to murder, three counts of wounding with intent and one of actual bodily harm
He said it was Pemberton's actions which began the fight, pulling out the axe, having already engaged in threats to stab someone in the liver on Facebook, intimidate others en-route through the village.
He noted how the medical evidence showed there were two weapons at play on New Year's Day, with injuries sustained pointing towards the large kitchen knife held by Williams and a smaller, narrower knife which he suggested was in Pemberton's possession.
Mr Laws reminded the jury of witness Darren Cotter who remarked "I don't think he [Pemberton] wanted a cigarette, I think he was looking for trouble'"
Mr Laws also noted an account from one witness who said they saw a man – Pemberton – on the ground being attacked by at least three others.
He said: "If ever there was a man on New Year's Eve in Plymouth who deserved what he was getting it was Donald Pemberton. He was, on his own account, still reaching for his axe and they were doing just whatever they could to stop him."
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Donald Pemberton's final Facebook profile image posted on New Year's Eve
Martin Meeke QC told the jury there was "a great deal, you may think, not to like about Donald Pemberton", collecting "by the age of 20 a number of previous convictions" including an unprovoked attack, carrying a machete and causing an affray.
He said the CCTV footage they had seen showed him threatening people with meat cleavers, but it also showed him "our hero in the dock, running away… Long on threats, short on action".
He said Pemberton had been in prison, "takes illegal drugs, scrounges cigarettes, keeps bad company, he is foul mouthed – just look at his Facebook exchanges – is almost monosyllabic and charmless and on that night he was on his way to meet Kane Swabey with an axe. If I've missed anything let me know.
"What am I doing running down my own client? We have no illusions of what you will make about Donald Pemberton and that others see him as you do with all his many faults."
However, Mr Meeke went on to urge the jury to put aside their "distaste" for Pemberton and their "sympathy" for Tanis Bhandari and examine the evidence "analytically and dispassionately".
Mr Meeke reminded the jury that Williams pleaded guilty to all counts, adding: "He had to. He was the man who had a knife, or knives."
Ryan Williams and Donald Pemberton posted selfie images on Facebook posing with knives on New Year's Eve
He asked the jury to consider "what opportunity did he [Pemberton] have to stab Sean Cordon who had told the court he remembered being on the ground, holding onto a man, facing the man's back and both unable to punch each other.
He said if Pemberton had reached round to stab Mr Cordon "it would've been a feat of some proportions".
Mr Meeke reminded the jury of a statement by a paramedic who drove George Walker and his girlfriend Billy-Jay Edmonds to the hospital.
The medic told police she heard Miss Edmonds say the man, later identified as Williams, as using a "bread knife" and described it as having "serrated edges".
He also noted paramedic Neil Jago's statement who took Jamie Healy and Sean Cordon to Derriford Hospital. En-route he heard them talk about the event, leaving the pub, walking across the green and "these males ask the girls for cigarettes which they said they didn't have any, so they asked Sean Cordon and Jamie Healy. I didn't hear anything which explained why they had been attacked."
He said there was "no evidence of a plan" between the two men adding: "That is nothing more than supposition on behalf of the prosecution."
He reminded the jury that Pemberton had no convictions for injuring anyone with weapons.
He also noted how the images posted on Facebook were "to make himself look big, to be the hard man, to impress Dale Hewitt".
He noted the "likes" the foul comments between Mr Hewitt, his mother and Pemberton received.
Just two of the many Facebook exchanges on New Year's Eve
He said: "You may think it is a pretty sad world when people communicate in those terms or approve of others doing so and there's no doubt that Pemberton was offering Dale Hewitt a fight."
Mr Meeke told the jury Pemberton came up with an explanation as to what started the attack on the green.
He said the young man had asked for the cigarette and within the group on the green, "someone else came through asking 'what did he say?'
"What was this charmless chav doing in his part of the village?
"He [Pemberton] got a punch for it. That's why he pulled the axe out."
The Kings Arms in Tamerton Foliot where Tanis Bhandari and his friends had seen in New Year's Eve
Mr Meeke noted how Sean Cordon's girlfriend Dina Moore turned after hearing a "silence" from the group and witnessed Pemberton pulling out the axe and lunging.
Mr Meeke held up his arm, as if holding the axe and said no-one witnessed Pemberton make any chop or slashing motions.
He asked: "What might you say if I held an axe out like this? 'Stay back'? 'Back off?'"
He noted how Miss Moore had said it was "a bit strange" these babyfaced boys would take on a large group of men, some over 6ft tall.
He added: "It's not just a bit strange – it makes no sense at all. On the way to the green they had a number of targets who would've been much easier to take on."
He said witness David Dewar "didn't seem surprised that there was a fight occurring" and that he saw Tanis Bhandari "punch and kick someone on the floor", George Walker "punch and kick someone on the floor and a third man he didn't recognise punch someone on the floor."
Images taken by police of Donald Pemberton following the incident on New Year's Day
Mr Meeke told the jury Williams saw Pemberton taking a beating. Williams did not attack in self-defence, but "stabbed people wholesale".
He said what Williams did was "so far over the top as to be criminal, which is acknowledged by his pleas."
The trial continues.