A man bought a car that was set on fire and rolled down a hill during a riot that turned a neighbourhood in a Welsh city into a “war zone”, anticipating it would be used in disorder, a jury has been told.
Kye Dennis, 25, from Swansea, paid £250 for the black Vauxhall Astra, which was pushed down the steep Waun-Wen Road when violence broke out in May last year, the jury heard.
Dennis, who denies a charge of riot, claims that although he was present for some of the disturbance, he left when it got out of control, and told police he thought the actions of those involved were “disgusting”.
Robin Rouch, prosecuting, told the jury that Dennis had intended the car to be used in what unfolded and therefore “played his part in fuelling the events which took place”.
Opening the case on Tuesday, Rouch said the disturbance began when a young local man called Ethan Powell died. He said: “Friends and people who knew him arranged an event for him on Waun-Wen Road. It could have been a peaceful celebration of his life. Unfortunately, some who attended it had different ideas and it descended into an ugly, violent incident.”
Rouch told the court that in the days before the vigil messages were exchanged on social media about procuring cars for the event. Dennis and another man drove to Carmarthenshire to buy the old, damaged Astra, driving it back on a flatbed lorry.
Dennis parked the Astra near Waun-Wen Road at 7.35pm, about half an hour after the first report of antisocial behaviour was made to police. A short while later, it was driven by others to Waun-Wen Road where it was set alight and pushed down the hill.
Rouch told the jury that when Dennis bought the car, “there was an anticipation that it was going to be used in some antisocial way”.
In a statement read to the court by Rouch, a woman who lived on Waun-Wen Road described being home alone with her children when the street descended into lawlessness. “I felt like I was in a war zone and not in the middle of a residential street in Swansea,” she said.
She added that she “burst into tears” when she found her living room and front door windows smashed, leaving glass strewn across her home, including inside her baby’s cot.
Giles Hayes, defending Dennis, said that despite hours of footage being recovered by police, none show Dennis acting violently.
The trial continues.
