POLICE officers “pressurised” a vulnerable witness, forcing her to give a statement implicating three men in the death of a Newport father, it was claimed yesterday.
Defence barrister John Charles Rees accused Gwent Police officers investigating the death of Tony Singh of acting outrageously when they interviewed Nina Sayer and Timothy Burrows, friends of the murder accused Mr Charles Rees said officers “trampled over” and “completely ignored” what the pair said.
George Glover, 40, of Graham Court, Karl Drummond, 37, of Attlee Court, and Shahid Rafiq, 37, of Bryn Yr Ysgol, all Caerphilly, are on trial at Cardiff Crown Court accused of murdering and conspiring to rob Tony Singh on November 11, 2010. They deny the charges.
After the three men were arrested, Mr Charles Rees said DCs Jessica Jones and Paul Jones visited Ms Sayer’s home, “challenging her” for 11 hours on her testimony.
He said Ms Sayer should have been invited to a police station where her interview could be filmed or audio recorded but, instead, officers were at her home in Caerphilly from 6.15pm on November 23 until 5.20am the next day.
Mr Charles Rees said they made the heroin addict feel like she would be “locked up” or have her young son taken from her if she didn’t say what they wanted to hear.
He said Ms Sayer believed the men were going to get drugs from Newport, but was made to say they had taken a weapon. “Such behaviour is outrageous,” he said.
The barrister said Mr Burrows had not seen a gun or weapon as the defendants left Caerphilly for Newport on the day of the alleged incident and it was police who had introduced the words “tooled up” in his interview.
He said Mr Burrows simply agreed with officers, saying “I would have thought” when they put allegations to him.
Mr Charles Rees added: “Police wanted evidence Drummond was the person who would have done whatever atrocities. They wanted evidence Drummond was the most violent and aggressive. They put two and two together and got five.”
Proceeding.
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