THERE are “serious doubts” about the prosecution case against five defendants accused of murdering an innocent man for his Gucci man bag, a jury was told.

The claim was made by Martin Heslop QC who represents Lewis Aquilina accused of killing Ryan O’Connor in the Alway area of Newport last summer.

His barrister said his client is not guilty of murder.

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Five Cardiff men, Aquilina, 20, of Canton Court, Riverside; Joseph Jeremy, 18, of no fixed abode; Elliott Fiteni, 19, of no fixed abode; Kyle Raisis, 18, of Bartley Wilson Way, Canton, and Ethan Strickland, 19, of Clos Briallen, Caerau, are on trial for his murder.

They deny the charge.

READ MORE: Ryan O'Connor ‘hunted down and killed on a road trip to commit crime’

The gang “hunted down and killed” the 26-year-old on a “road trip to commit crime”, prosecutor Michael Brady QC has told Newport Crown Court.

During his closing speech to the jury, Mr Heslop questioned the reliability of key prosecution witnesses.

He said: ““The prosecution say the five defendants are all in this together.

“That’s an easy allegation to make, much more difficult to prove.

“There’s a fundamental inconsistency in the evidence which raises serious doubts about what happened in the prosecution’s case.”

Mr Heslop cast doubt on the evidence of Lewis Pritchard who said he saw Mr O’Connor being attacked by two men.

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Aquilina’s barrister said Mr Pritchard didn’t understand some of the questions that were put to him and regularly had his head in his hands.

“He said he had real difficulties with his memory since childhood,” Mr Heslop put forward.

“We can’t be sure there were two knives.”

The evidence of Joanna Verallo doesn’t help the jury either, Mr Heslop also suggested.

She told the court she saw the driver (Aquilina) and front seat passenger (Fiteni) laughing in the stolen Ford Fiesta ST as Mr O’Connor lay dying on the floor.

Mr Heslop asked jurors: “Can you be sure she’s right in all the confusion with emotions and fears running high?”

He implies that it might have been Jeremy who was the only one laughing at the alleged victim.

“Whatever happened in Lewis Aquilina’s case, it’s not murder,” Mr Heslop told the jury.

“It’s not about which is the more nasty of the defendants.

“It’s about who the more likely it was to have done the stabbing.”

He added: “It’s quite clear that Joseph Jeremy got out of the car and stabbed Ryan O’Connor to death.”

The defendants also deny manslaughter and robbery.

Mr O’Connor died of fatal stab wounds near the Aberthaw Road roundabout on the evening of Thursday, June 10, 2021.

The case continues.