Teenager tells how twin was shot dead

A teenager has described the moment he saw his twin brother shot dead has he sat next to him in their bedroom.

Raheem Hines-Thomas was blasted through the heart at near point blank range by a shotgun held by 26 year old Nathan Hamilton, Wolverhampton's Crown Court was told.

The tragedy struck as members of the Park Village Crew planned revenge for an earlier attack during which the brother of Hamilton had been beaten up in the street by members of the rival Firetown Gang, it was alleged.

There were up to six people in the bedroom of the house in Orslow Walk, Park Village, when the fatal shooting occurred on March 19 last year, the court was told.

Raheem's twin brother Ramon, now aged 18, told police in a statement given the day after the shooting and read to the jury today by prosecutor Graham Reeds QC:

"Nathan came into the room with a bag which was about 3ft long. Then I saw him with the shotgun in his hand. He was sitting opposite Raheem and I was sat next to my brother.

"I wasn't paying attention. I was messaging a friend on my Blackberry. Whilst I was sat messaging I heard a big bang and two seconds later saw Raheem holding his chest. I could see blood everywhere.

"I tried to pick him up. He couldn't walk.

"I turned him round and dragged him out of the house onto the grass. Then I laid him down on the grass outside. I can definitely say that Nathan walked into the room with a bag. I saw him unzip the bag. I can say 100 per cent he had the bag."

The shot teenager was taken to hospital where he was certified dead. His twin brother said in the statement: "After leaving hospital I went back to the house, and up to the bedroom. I could see blood everywhere and the bag I had seen was no longer there."

Ramon Hines-Thomas today sat in the witness box while the statement was read and consistently answered questions about its content from both the prosecutor and defence lawyer John Cooper QC, with the phrase: "I don't know". But he did admit that the statement had been read to him after it was made and he had signed every page of it.

When Mr Cooper asked him: "Did you make it clear to the police that whatever Nathan did was an accident?" The witness replied: "Yes."

Mr Cooper continued: "Is it right that he did not mean to hurt your brother and was not doing anything with the gun that gave any indication that it was going to go off?" The witness again replied: "Yes."

Hamilton, from Elmhurst Court, Wednesbury, pleads not guilty to manslaughter and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life. The trial continues.