A robber stabbed a wealthy stable owner so savagely paramedics could not see what colour his skin was because he was so covered in blood, a court heard today.
Cedric Brown, 46, is accused of launching a “gratuitous” attack on Mark Williams, 51, as he tried to protect his wife Susan, also 51, in a terrifying burglary at their £600,000 farmhouse.
Birmingham Crown Court heard Brown and an accomplice slashed Mr Williams in the throat and stabbed him three times in the stomach at their Myrtle Farm home in Siston Common, near Bristol.
After the brutal burglary the intruders are accused of beating the couple’s dogs so badly with walking sticks they had to be put down in the raid on November 16, 2010.
Brown denies one count of burglary of a dwelling and wounding with intent.
Anthony Potter, prosecuting, told the jury of seven women and five men that a hat covered in Brown’s DNA was found at the scene of the crime.
He said: “This wasn’t just a run of the mill burglary, it was aggravated by the fact that Brown was armed when he committed the burglary.
“He wasn’t simply armed, he used that knife in a gratuitous and unnecessary attack on a householder who had had the temerity to try and protect his wife, who was being attacked, and his property.
“They had gone to bed around 9pm when Mrs Williams heard their dogs making a lot of noise outside.
“She went downstairs, dressed only in her pyjama top to see what was going on.
“She saw two uninvited individuals at the bottom of the staircase, they were both black males one larger and short, the other tall and thin, it was clear to her the large one was in charge.
“When Mr Williams heard noise of distress he also came downstairs, he didn’t just find two uninvited males. He found an uninvited male who was by this point holding his wife.
“He told them to leave, the man didn’t take the invitation, he did quite the opposite, that man who we say is Cedric Brown slashed Mr Williams with the knife.
“He slashed him in his neck and stabbed him in the stomach.
“He was stabbed so badly that when paramedics arrived at the scene they said they couldn’t tell what colour his skin was. He was literally covered in blood.”
Giving evidence from behind a screen, Mrs Williams, a hair-stylist, told the court they were attacked while they watched ITV’s ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here’ on TV.
She said: “We had just gone to bed and were just snuggling up to watch ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here’ when I heard the dogs barking.
“I went downstairs to see what was going on and thought it must be my daughter coming home.
“Then through the window into the kitchen I saw two men, one had a scarf wrapped round his head and the other was wearing a dark sort of bobble hat.
“One of them, the shorter man, saw me, grabbed me and put the knife to my throat. I screamed get out of my house, get out.
“He said to me, you have a daughter, go and get her. I said she’s not here, she’s not here.
“My husband came downstairs in his night wear and told them to get out, he can sound quite aggressive but he’s a little kitten really.
“I think this took them aback, the chunky one lunged at him and they began to wrestle on the floor.
“It seemed to be for ages and when they stopped my husband looked dazed and was slipping out of consciousness.
“I could see he had been stabbed in the side and his throat had been cut, there was a cut by his eye and blood on his face.
“The chunky man kept shouting at me to get the safe. Then he said to me ‘we kill people’, he said it like he was offering me a cup of tea.
“He started coming toward me holding this knife, it was between three and four inches long, bigger than one you’d use for potatoes.
“I just desperately thought about what money we had, and I remembered the takings I had brought home from the salon.
“I told him there was money there and that seemed to satisfy the taller man but the chunky one just kept coming toward me.”
Mrs Williams, who broke down and wept as she described fearing for her life, added: “I dropped to my knees and prayed for him not to kill us.
“He spotted the cross I was holding from my necklace and grabbed it and yanked it off my neck, that seemed to satisfy them and they left through the back door.
“They had been holding walking sticks from out utility room, and I believe they beat two of our dogs with them because we had to have them put down.
“At one point I managed to escape and they grabbed me by my hair and yanked me back in using the hooks on the sticks.
“I am certain that he would have killed us had I not remembered that money.”
The trial continues.
