Black Country crossbow murder trial: Jury see CCTV images of fateful moments
CCTV footage of the moment a Brierley Hill man was allegedly shot accidentally with a crossbow by his brother has been shown to a jury at Wolverhampton Crown Court.
Waseem Ramzan, 36 of Brierley Hill, died after a confrontation with members of a rival gang who raided a cannabis farm in Pensnett Road in the early hours of February 20 last year.
The crossbow was then turned on 19-year-old Khuzaimah Douglas, the court heard, who died less than an hour later.
Saghawat Ramzan, 46, his son Omar Ramzan, 23, and Mohammed Sageer, 33, are accused of murdering the two men. All three of the accused deny the charges.
Detective Constable Spencer Jenkins of West Midlands Police, who has worked to establish the sequence of events with CCTV evidence from the scene, described footage of the shooting of both men to the jury.
The case so far:
The court saw images of a struggle in the street, with Mr Douglas being held on the floor from behind by Waseem Ramzan. The images also showed Omar Ramzan and Mohammed Sageer attacking Mr Douglas and Saghawat Ramzan armed with a crossbow.
“He has the (crossbow) held ahead of him,” said Det Con Jenkins. “There is a brief flash towards the bottom. The bolt has a shiny tip, the shaft is dark. It is a flash of reflection. The street lights are very good, it is a well-lit area.”
The court heard that Waseem Ramzan rolled onto his side away from Mr Douglas, drew the crossbow bolt from his own body and dropped it at his side.
'Reloaded'
“Mr Douglas tries to get up but Omar Ramzan and Mohammed Sageer have hold of him and appear to be in a tussle, then Mr Douglas goes back to the ground,” said Det Con Jenkins.
“The crossbow is put down, (Saghawat Ramzan’s) right and left arms extend, then there is a draw up motion as if it is being re-primed.
“He stands up again and having reloaded the crossbow he steps back slightly and holds crossbow above his waist.”
Det Con Jenkins said he could not say exactly when the second crossbow shot was fired which hit Mr Douglas.
“Saghawat closes in towards Mr Douglas on the floor,” he said.
“You can see from his body posture that he is holding the crossbow in front of him.
“There is a change in the dynamic, his stance changes and he makes thrusting movements with his left arm.”
The court heard that Mr Douglas, who had been shot in his right flank, managed to get to his feet and stagger away towards Wilson Road where he collapsed. He was treated by doctors but died at the scene.
Waseem Ramzan was lifted into a Volkswagen people carrier by Mohammed Sageer, Omar Ramzan and their Vietnamese gardener and taken to hospital. Medics tried to save him but he died of massive blood loss caused by the wound to the abdomen.
Footage was shown to the court of Saghawat Ramzan carrying both crossbows away, the large weapon on his left hand, the smaller weapon in his right.
Det Con Jenkins told the jury that all the CCTV footage recovered from Saghawat and Omar Ramzan’s house in Pensnett Road, which is next to the cannabis farm, had been been deleted.
“We recovered the whole digital video recorder,” he said.
“It was a sent for forensic analysis.
“It became apparent footage had been deleted. All the footage you have viewed has been recovered.”
The trial continues.
