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 today at Plymouth Crown Court.
Mr Laws said the 27-year-old builder died a "completely unnecessary death" while four other men – Sean Cordon, Jamie Healy, George Walker and Mattew Daw – all suffered "completely unnecessary injuries of various levels of seriousness."
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.
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?"
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."
Mr Meeke 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 – 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".
The trial continues.
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