Shooting victim Dexter Crowson was on Abraham’s Bosom when it is alleged he was struck in the forehead by an air pellet fired by Thomas Hicks from an upstairs window of a flat opposite. (Picture by John O’Neill, 0670386)
THE man accused of shooting a teenager in the forehead with an air rifle has changed his story on more than one occasion, the prosecution said.
Thomas Hicks appeared in the Royal Court yesterday where he denied a charge of unlawful wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm to Dexter Crowson by firing the gun and an alternative count of unlawful wounding.
Mr Crowson, who was about to go swimming with a friend, was on Abraham’s Bosom when he was struck by a pellet fired from an upstairs window of a nearby flat.
The pellet from the .22 gun had to be removed from just above his eyes under local anaesthetic. He suffered from headaches for two or three days.
The incident happened on 26 August last year on the day of the Vale Earth Fair.
Mr Crowson and his friend were about 90 metres away when the gun was fired.
The group fled and when Mr Crowson got home, his mother took him to hospital.
He told the court he had not realised that he had been shot until the pellet was extracted.
‘I thought it was a stone or a coin and it hurt,’ he said. ‘I was trying to stop the bleeding with a rag and my mum said to phone the police.’
A police firearms team was sent to Mr Hicks’s flat at 1, Kimberley, North Side, Vale, above the vet’s practice, and he was walking past Quayside when he was arrested.
Advocate Chris Dunford, prosecuting, said Mr Hicks had changed his account of what had happened twice already and he was now on the third version of his story.
Initially, through a prepared statement, he said he knew nothing of the incident. He said the top window of his flat did not open and the one in the lounge below opened very little.
But when police examined the windows, they found both were in working order.
Three air rifles and an air pistol were found in the flat, but Mr Hicks said he had not used them for about six months.
Advocate Dunford said it was clear that the defendant had lied, so a second interview took place.
Mr Hicks said he had been sitting on his settee cleaning the gun when he had decided to fire an oil-covered pellet from it as advised. He had checked all was clear first and when he had shot the gun, the pellet struck the top half of a metal lamppost nearby.
A firearms expert found that the pellet recovered from Mr Crowson’s head had not ricocheted off anything.
Mr Hicks then claimed his brother, Michael, had fired the gun from the window, Advocate Dunford said.
Neighbour Kevin Le Page told the court how he had raised concerns with Mr Hicks some weeks earlier about air guns being fired from his window.
Mr Hicks’s mother Irene claimed she had overheard a conversation during which her nephew, Reece Hicks, had told her son, Michael, that he had fired the gun.
Following this, Reece was arrested. He denied firing the gun and was released without charge.
Michael Hicks said he had been in the room when both Reece and Thomas had fired the gun out of the window.
Advocate Dunford said Michael had made no mention of this in his statement.
He said realising the serious nature of the charge against Thomas, Michael and his mother had fabricated a story aimed at deflecting blame on to Reece. Both denied it.
The case continues today.
Article posted on 12th November, 2008 - 2.29pm
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