A MAN accused of attempting to murder a man by setting him on fire claims he had no idea anyone would be attacked.
The trial of four people accused of the petrol attack in Southchurch Avenue, Southend continued with defendant Paul Bruns taking to the witness box.
The 53-year-old of York Road, Southend, along with Alan Archer, 33, of Fairmead Avenue, Westcliff, Ben Ince, 41, of no fixed address, and Jane Reilly, 53, of Trowbridge Road, Harold Hill, deny attempted murder.
Bruns told the jury that at the time of the alleged offence on October 30, 2019, he had been homeless and constantly taking drugs.
He said on the night, he had gone to Archer’s home with Ince to take drugs, when Reilly, Archer’s partner, had returned home and said they were going out.
His barrister, Kevin Toomey, said: “Do you remember any conversation in the car, at all, about attacking anyone at all?”
Bruns replied: “No, definitely not, I don’t recall it.”
Police at the scene
The jury heard the man suffered burns to 60 per cent of his body after being set alight after 1am in the morning.
Mr Toomey asked Bruns repeatedly whether he was aware of any plan to attack the man after he came out of the house, and whether he had been told to help.
Bruns denied this, and claimed he just wanted to leave after the man was set on fire. He said: “I just didn’t want to be there, I moved away. “I didn’t want to be there, I was scared, I had done nothing wrong.”
Mr Toomey said the CCTV footage of the attack showed Bruns getting back into the car after the incident, which saw the victim remove his shirt that was on fire before running towards a grass verge.
He said: “Why did you get back in the car?” Bruns replied: “I didn’t want to get blamed for something I hadn’t done. I ran away, I was ashamed.
“I had done nothing wrong, I didn’t do nothing to anyone.”
Mr Toomey said: “Did you attack him? Did you want him dead? Did you help anyone else try to kill him?”
Bruns replied: “No, definitely not.”
The jury were previously shown body-cam footage of a police officer attending the scene and seeing the man with burn injuries, before being led away by ambulance crews.
The trial continues.
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