THE girlfriend of a man accused of murdering a Newport father told a court yesterday she knew there was a fight between them, but believed the alleged victim walked away.

Caerphilly men Karl Drummond, 36, of Attlee Court, George Glover, 39, of Graham Court, and Shahid Rafiq, 36, of Bryn-yr-Ysgol, are on trial at Newport Crown Court accused of murdering and conspiring to rob Tony Singh. All three deny the charges.

Giving evidence yesterday, Drummond’s partner, Nina Sayyah, said although she heard there was an altercation between Drummond and Mr Singh, she thought Mr Singh had walked away.

Mr Singh, who was described as a drug dealer in court, was attacked on November 11 after the three defendants earlier handed more than £100 to another man for what they believed was heroin, but was actually beef powder, the jury heard earlier in the trial.

Ms Sayyah said she contacted Rafiq to buy heroin on November 11 as she was worried that Drummond, who was on medication for heroin addiction and had been in custody for shoplifting, may have felt unwell. Glover and Timothy Burrows also contributed, she said.

However, the initial attempt to purchase heroin in Newport was unsuccessful and she told the court that Glover drove Drummond, who by that point was out of custody, and Rafiq back to Newport to get their money back.

The group returned to Caerphilly and Ms Sayyah confirmed to the court that the three brought back a phone owned by Mr Singh. She said Drummond and Rafiq had gone to meet him, and there was a “fight and altercation” between Mr Singh and the two defendants.

Asked by prosecutor Paul Lewis what was the extent of the violence, Ms Sayyer said she believed Mr Singh had walked away or ran, and didn’t think there would be “any repercussions”.

Proceeding