A driver who allegedly took four armed teenagers to a street where two boys were fatally attacked has described being on a revenge mission as “utter rubbish” but admitted his actions were “shameful”.
Antony Snook, 45, admits driving Riley Tolliver, 18, and three boys aged 15, 16 and 17, to and from the scene of the alleged murders in Bristol but denies any knowledge of weapons or violence.
Mason Rist, 15, and Max Dixon, 16, died from stab wounds shortly after leaving Mason’s home in Ilminster Avenue in the Knowle West area at about 11pm on January 27 this year, Bristol Crown Court heard.
The two boys, who were close friends, had been wrongly identified as being responsible for bricks being thrown at a house in the neighbouring Hartcliffe district earlier that evening.
Giving evidence, Snook told the jury of nine men and three women that he believed he was driving his four co-accused in his Audi Q2 car to a “safe house” following the attack in Hartcliffe.
He said he had left that property with two of the boys and was directed to pick up the other two from a nearby street.
And when he was told to stop in Ilminster Avenue he believed they were outside the safe house.
The landscape gardener insisted he did not know the boys were carrying weapons and was looking in his rearview mirror at the time Max and Mason were attacked, as he wanted to perform a three-point turn in his car.
Ray Tully KC, prosecuting, said to Snook: “I suggest that is a lie and you well knew that everybody was going on a revenge mission in Knowle West?”
Snook replied: “That’s utter rubbish.”
Mr Tully asked: “Is the truth that you, together with the four people in your car, were searching – on the lookout – for specific people?”
Snook replied: “No, that’s ridiculous, I wasn’t.”
Mr Tully asked: “And what you and the others were doing was driving around looking to see if you can find the people that you and they thought were responsible for the attack on the property in Hartcliffe?”
Snook, a former aerospace engineer, replied: “No, not at all.”
He explained he had not checked to see if the boys had all entered the safe house because it had been “pre-arranged”.
He was sitting in his car when he saw Mason in front of him in the road and his co-accused getting back into his vehicle.
“I didn’t see him get assaulted. I didn’t know until afterwards that he had been assaulted,” Snook said.
Mr Tully asked: “You must have seen the 17-year-old strike Mason with that sword – it must have been obvious to you that Mason had been severely assaulted.
“You didn’t stop for him or help him. You left that boy to die in that road – that is what happened?
“I suggest you were more interested in saving your own skin than his?”
Snook replied: “I had no knowledge of the severity of it.”
The defendant suggested it was then he realised that driving his co-accused to a safe house was a “ruse”.
Mr Tully asked: “You knew what was going on before you left Hartcliffe and headed to Knowle West.
“You had been contacted on the way back from Swindon and you had agreed to be the wheels and the means for people to get to Knowle West.
“You agreed to act as the transport for those four boys from Hartcliffe to Knowle West, didn’t you?
“Appreciating and knowing they were all armed to the teeth with the weapons we have all been looking at in court.
“You drove them around and around to find targets to be hit. When they jumped out of the car you waited with your engine running and you drove down the road in order to pick them up.
“Do you think you acted like a man that night?”
Snook replied: “It is shameful what happened. But I was not in control of the situation.”
A CCTV camera on Mason’s house captured how the attack lasted just 33 seconds – including the Audi stopping, four teenagers allegedly jumping out, attacking the two friends, returning to the car and it driving off.
Mason and Max sustained fatal stab injuries and both died in hospital in the early hours of January 28.
The 15-year-old boy on trial has admitted murdering Mason but denies murdering Max. The 17-year-old boy has admitted manslaughter relating to Max but denies murdering Max and Mason.
Snook, Tolliver, the 16-year-old boy and the 17-year-old boy are charged with murdering Mason, together with the 15-year-old boy, on January 27 this year.
Snook, Tolliver and the three teenage boys are charged with murdering Max on the same date.
Barristers representing the four teenagers confirmed they would not be giving evidence or calling any evidence.
The trial continues.
