Peter Lewis murder trial: Victim was 'never a threat'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-21184872

Version 0 of 1.

A disabled pensioner who was fatally stabbed at his home in Cardiff could get frustrated but was "never a threat", a court has heard.

Peter Lewis died in April after opening the door to William Jones, of Cardiff.

Mr Jones, 32, denies murder at Cardiff Crown Court and claims he must have stabbed Mr Lewis accidentally as he tried to take a knife off him.

But the prosecution disputed claims by a defence lawyer that the pensioner, 68, could be "aggressive".

The court has heard allegations that the enraged defendant was armed with a knife as he knocked on doors looking for his former girlfriend and her partner.

After Mr Lewis opened his door in the city's Roath suburb at 02:30 BST on 28 April last year he got into a confrontation with Mr Jones and was fatally stabbed in the stomach, it is claimed.

The defendant then ran off and threw a knife away into a scrap metal van, the court was told.

But Mr Jones, a drug addict, says the victim answered the door to him armed with a kitchen knife and the pensioner was stabbed as he tried to take it off him.

Defence lawyer David Aubrey QC claimed on Thursday that Mr Lewis could be aggressive, that he had been warned about his behaviour by police and that on one occasion he said he would petrol bomb a neighbour's house.

"Are we sure Peter Lewis did not answer the door with a knife in his hands?" he asked the jury.

However, prosecution lawyer Peter Murphy QC said that although Mr Lewis could get frustrated and "would sound off", he was never a threat.

"He didn't appreciate the danger he was putting himself in and boy did he pay the price," he said.

He said of the defendant: "We suggest he was down there carrying a knife."

Mr Murphy added that the suggestion that Mr Lewis had threatened the defendant with a knife and that he was physically able to do so was "ludicrous".

The trial has previously heard that Mr Lewis was vulnerable, had a low IQ and only had one eye.

He also had great difficulty moving without the aid of a carer and his walking stick

However, he lived a busy social life, volunteered at charity shops, was a committed Christian and was described in court as a "champion of people with learning difficulties".

The trial continues.