I was attacked too, says window fitter accused of attempted murder
A window fitter accused of attempting to murder a 23-year-old man outside a Dudley pub has told a jury he was not aware the incident had taken place until the following day.
Darren Edwards, aged 36, is accused of knifing Christopher Perkins several times outside the The Earl of Dudley Arms, in Wellington Road, Dudley, in the early hours of May 11 last year.
Mr Perkins was stabbed several times and suffered a pierced lung, a cut to his other lung and the sac surrounding his heart was cut. He also suffered injuries to his elbows and legs.
Taking the stand at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday, Edwards said he was being attacked by a man in another area of the car park at the time when Mr Perkins was stabbed.
"I received a blow to the side of the head," he told the court. "It caught me by surprise so I backed off. Then I received a second blow and it made me feel a bit dizzy.
"I was in fear of my safety so I walked off the car park and headed in the direction of home."
Edwards told the court that he was picked up in Wellington Road shortly after 4am and driven to a friends house in Netherton.
He said that between 6.30am and 7am he was picked up by his workmate and the pair travelled down to Bristol for a pre-planned job fitting windows in a block of flats.
He said he only became aware that someone had been stabbed when his mother phoned him the following day.
"I contacted my lawyer to arrange to go and see the police," said Edwards, who added that he stayed in Bristol until May 14 because he hadn't finished the job he was working on.
Edwards said he did not attend his arranged interview with police because he was told someone had been arrested over the stabbing. "I buried my head in the sand," he said.
The court heard that police found Edwards' blue 'NY' logo hat near to where Mr Perkins had been stabbed. "Someone must have kicked it there," Edwards said.
He said he had drank 'three or four' glasses of neat brandy when trouble flared between two groups of men on the pub car park.
Describing the incident, he said: "I saw a gang of people fighting by the burger van. It was a group of black guys and a group of Asian guys. To me it looked like the black guys were punching them up.
"I saw blows getting dished out." When asked if he had stabbed Mr Perkins, Edwards replied: "No, I did not."
Edwards, of Kilburn Place, Netherton, denies attempted murder and a second charge of wounding.
The trial continues.
