A dad left a man 'millimetres from death' in a 'revenge attack' after he blamed the victim for his son’s death, a court has heard. Samson Price Sr, of Sefton Road in Wigan, appeared at Chester Crown Court on Monday, January 30, after carrying out a brutal attack using a 16-inch machete outside PureGym Northwich.
The 48-year-old denies attempting to murder 20-year-old Patrick Brown, from Winsford, during the incident in September 2021, but has pleaded guilty to a lesser offence of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
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Opening the prosecution case, Simon Mills said: "At 7pm on Thursday, September 23, 2021, this defendant tried to kill a young man called Patrick John Brown with a machete. The defendant carried out a pre-planned attack on Mr Brown as he came out of PureGym in Northwich where the defendant had been waiting with his weapon concealed on his person."
The court heard Price came within 'millimetres' of killing Mr Brown, with one of the several wounds inflicted severing his femur bone and only just missing a major artery – which would have led him to bleed out within minutes, doctors said. Mr Mills added: "The defendant failed to achieve his intention because Mr Brown was frantically running away and doing the best he could to avoid or fend off blows.
"People from the gym were also starting to emerge having seen what was going on. Some were starting to call 999.
"At the time the defendant ran away, he had already inflicted numerous wounds to Mr Brown’s head, face, back, one of his arms and his right leg many of which were bleeding profusely."
Price ran off and remained at large for three weeks before eventually handing himself in at a police station in Yorkshire. Mr Mills added: "He blames Mr Brown for the death of his son, and he was angry that the police did not prosecute him over it.
"The prosecution contends that this was a case of 'an eye for an eye'."
The court heard on October 4, 2020, Samson Price Jr, aged 18, was found dead in a pond in Wigan. The people he had been with in the lead up to his death included Mr Brown.
He, and two other people were arrested on suspicion of murder during the course of an investigation into his death. The police investigation concluded there were no suspicious circumstances or third-party involvement and Samson Jr had most likely drowned by accident, but Price Sr did not accept this.
The jury was told some of the key dates in this case involved Price buying a 16-inch Survival Haku machete on December 2, 2020, and on September 15, 2021, buying an electronic tracking device which he used to keep tabs on the victim's movements before the stabbing. Police saw Mr Brown while he was still in Aintree Hospital in the major trauma ward on Friday, October 1, 2021.
He described how he was trying to save his own life during the attack and how the defendant was saying things like, 'I’m gonna kill you', while Mr Brown was screaming 'It wasn't his fault'.
The defendant does not dispute carrying out this attack, but says he did not intend to kill Mr Brown, just to cause him serious harm.
"The prosecution has not accepted that plea as properly reflecting the gravity of this case," Mr Mills told the jury. "Our case is simple to state.
"Samson Price intended to kill Patrick Brown, and he came very close to succeeding. Patrick Brown's survival was a matter of sheer luck and prompt medical care."
The trial continues.
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