A SWANSEA man whose red Mercedes is said to have been used in a �38,000 armed robbery in Carmarthenshire has claimed that, at the time in question, he had lent the car to a friend.
But Anthony Howell Lewis yesterday refused to identify the man who had borrowed his vehicle.
"I'm not prepared to say who this mate is, if I can help it," he told jurors.
"He has contact with serious drug dealers who might be involved in this case and I fear for the safety of my family and myself."
Lewis, aged 44, of Clifton Court, Treboeth, was speaking from the witness box at Swansea Crown Court, where he is on trial with 41-year-old co-defendant Paul Andrew Davies.
They deny joint charges of robbery and being armed with an imitation firearm — namely a blank-firing pistol. Davies, aged 41, of Gwalia Crescent, Gorseinon, Swansea, further denies converting cash that he knew or suspected represented the proceeds of criminal conduct.
The court has heard how, at about 8.30am on September 14, two masked men armed with a gun burst into the Mountain Crest smallholding at Four Roads, near Kidwelly, and stole �38,000 from brothers Jonathan White, aged 29, and Benjamin White, aged 17.
According to the Crown, the gun was pointed at Jonathan White's face before he was further threatened with petrol and lighters.
After being arrested on September 20, Lewis said he knew nothing about the robbery, while Davies, who was arrested two days later, refused to answer detectives' questions.
At the start of the trial, prosecutor Jim Davis claimed there was compelling evidence linking the pair to the incident — involving fingerprints, DNA, a mobile phone and Lewis's car.
The prosecutor said there could be no doubt that Lewis's red Mercedes was the car used in the robbery and captured on CCTV footage of part of the incident.
But, giving evidence on day four of the case, Lewis was adamant that he had never left Swansea that day.
Filmed
Questioned by defence counsel Dyfed Thomas about his alleged involvement in the robbery, Lewis said: "I did not play any part in it."
He denied being either of the two masked men who were filmed by a CCTV camera outside the smallholding.
It was not true that he and Davies had travelled to Four Roads and committed the crime, he said.
Lewis claimed that on September 9 he lent his Mercedes to the friend whose name he was not willing to disclose.
"But I did not know what my mate was going to do with the car," he told the court.
He next saw the car at 9.50am on September 14, the day of the robbery, after it was left outside his co-defendant's home.
"Paul said he wasn't sure how long it had been there," he said.
Questioned by Mr Thomas, Lewis claimed that when he opened the boot of the Mercedes he found a set of false number plates and a balaclava-type ski-mask — and handled both items.
He agreed that, following his arrest, he told a Dyfed-Powys detective that he had given someone a gun "without ammunition" and got it back "with ammunition inside it".
But this had been a sarcastic comment rather than a true statement, insisted Lewis.
"I said it because I was fed up answering questions," he said. "I just said it to shut them up."
The case continues.
 |  |
Lee Carsley Radio industry Bank of England Argentina Dmitry Medvedev Alex Reid
No comments:
Post a Comment