A SUSPECT on trial for murdering a father for his Gucci bag admitted he was a drug dealer who sold cannabis but denied being in the crack cocaine trade.

Lewis Aquilina is alleged to have killed Newport dad Ryan O’Connor in a machete attack in the Alway area of the city last summer.

The defendant is on trial with four others accused of the murder, manslaughter and robbery of the 26-year-old.

The five Cardiff men, Aquilina, 20, of Canton Court, Riverside; Joseph Jeremy, 18, of no fixed abode; Kyle Raisis, 18, of Bartley Wilson Way, Canton; Ethan Strickland, 19, of Clos Briallen, Caerau, and Elliott Fiteni, 19, of no fixed abode, deny all the charges against them.

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Aquilina, cross-examined by Jonathan Elystan Rees QC who represents Jeremy, asked him: “You have sold drugs in the past, haven’t you?”

South Wales Argus:

Ryan O'Connor

The defendant replied: “You could say that. I’ve been around people who sell drugs.”

Aquilina admitted he had been involved in trafficking cannabis for a friend called Ethan Knight.

Mr Rees then read a message his girlfriend sent to him with a reference to the defendant selling crack cocaine.

She tells him: “Just focus on selling your crack.”

Aquilina said the message was sent after an argument between them but denied being involved in dealing the class A drug.

He later denied causing a serious injury to a rival after boasting about running him over in a car.

Mr Rees read out a message Aquilina sent to a man after accusing him of talking like a gangster.

It said: “Pumped off one of my ops in a whip doing 60. Broke his 2 legs and had to have a neck brace on.”

Jurors heard that a whip is slang for a car and ops means opponent or rival.

He denied any attack happened and added: “I was trying to make out I was someone to this person which I wasn’t.”

Mr Rees said the recipient of the message then asked Aquilina: “You tried to kill the man?”

Aquilina replied: “Yeah. I don’t play around.”

The prosecution claim Mr O’Connor was murdered when some of the defendants wearing masks attacked him when armed with a machete and a knife.

The alleged victim died of multiple stab wounds on the night of Thursday, June 10, 2021.

It has been put to the jury the Cardiff men drove from their home city to Newport that evening in a stolen Ford Fiesta with the intention of committing crime.

The prosecution allege Mr O’Connor was chosen at random simply because he was wearing a Gucci man bag.

The trial at Newport Crown Court continues.