A Liverpool man accused of beating a dad-of-two to death in a homophobic attack told police he fled the scene because he was carrying drugs.
Jason Edwards, 25, is on trial with Lee William Strickland, 36, and a 17-year-old girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, for the murder of Dr Gary Jenkins in a Cardiff park last year.
Dr Jenkins, 54, was "beaten, robbed, tortured, and left for dead" by two men and a teenage girl in Bute Park in what prosecutors allege was a killing motivated by "greed, homophobia, and a straightforward liking for violence".
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He sustained life-threatening injuries in the attack in the early hours of Tuesday, July 20, last year and subsequently died at the University Hospital of Wales on Thursday, August 5.
All three of the accused have admitted charges of manslaughter, robbery of a bag, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Our sister site Wales Online is reporting the trial live.
Today, the jury heard evidence from Edwards’ first interviews with police.
Jurors heard excerpts from some of Edwards’ interviews, including telling officers “I don’t know nothing” when asked about Dr Jenkin’s death.
And when asked by an officer where he was, he said he was “down my friend’s house…….having a drink” in Mackintosh Place.
Edwards refused to tell the officer the number of the house and also did not want to say the name of the person who drove him there - or the type of car he went in.
The officer then asked Edwards about the events of the day of July 19 - the day before the assault in Bute Park.
Edwards told the detective he spent the day in Cardiff drinking alcohol - Stella, Jack Daniels, and vodka - adding he only drank alcohol “once in a blue moon - and said he had not taken cannabis or crack cocaine.
During that interview, he also denied committing crime to buy drugs - saying his use was funded through benefits and his nan.
However, jurors heard evidence of a later interview with Edwards. When the officer mentions CCTV audio from the Summerhouse Cafe in Bute Park, the defendant said he has remembered being chased by undercover police officers in the early hours of the morning.
He said he ran from officers because he had cannabis on him, and did not want to get caught, and that he hid in a block of flats before going home.
Asked why he had not mentioned this incident before, Edwards replied: “It’s only just coming back to me.” The defendant says cannabis affects his memory and that he is addicted to it, calling it his “medication”. Edwards also described his use of crack cocaine as a “hobby”.
And in another interview, which was read to jurors, more questions were asked about an audio recording from the Summerhouse Cafe CCTV.
The officer said a man can be heard on the recording repeatedly shouting “leave me alone”, and he asked the defendant if he was in the park at the time - Edwards replied “No comment”.
He added a man can be heard shouting “stamp on his head”, and asks Edwards if that was him - the defendant replies “No comment”.
The officer asked if the defendant was the one doing the stamping - the defendant replied: “No comment”.
The officer said a male voice can be heard on the recording shouting “Jason”, and he asks the defendant if that person was calling to him - the defendant replies “No comment”.
All three defendants deny murder. The trial continues.
