'I was scared for my life'

News

'I was scared for my life'

Monday, 23 February 2009

Gary Guthrie

A WOMAN has told how she cowered on the floor of a car as a fatal gun battle took place outside.

The witness, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was giving evidence at the Old Bailey from behind a screen, to protect her identity.

She told jurors on Monday that she was in a Ford Fiesta with Ashley Thomas, 21, and Darrell Albert, 28, as they drove around Streatham in the early hours of October 22, 2007.

It is claimed the men were looking for Gary “Curry Cat” Guthrie, 35, and Rowan Williams, 33, who had just left the Starlight Rooms club on the High Road.

The woman said: “I could sense something bad was going to happen – I was scared for my life, so I lay on the floor of the car.

“I could see nothing, because I was on the floor, but I could hear raised Jamaican voices and other voices that did not have Jamaican accents.

“I could also hear the sound of feet on the pavement and people running.

“‘I could hear gunshots as well, an exchange of fire, so many different bangs.”

When the car left the scene, the men dropped the terrified woman home.

Mr Guthrie, of Lakeview Road, West Norwood, was hit once in the chest and died, while Mr Williams survived after surgeons removed a bullet from his neck.

Junior Cameron, 26, Michael Wabara, 24, Nathan Cross, 28, Courtney Hutchinson, 24, and Simon Rhodes-Butler, 32, are standing trial for murder, alongside Thomas and Albert.

An eighth man has also been charged but is not before the court, jurors were told.

No motive has been found for the shooting by the Crown Prosecution Service.

It is claimed that Cameron fired the fatal bullet and that Albert shot Mr Williams.

Forensic examination also revealed a third gun had been fired in the opposite direction.

Rhodes-Butler and Cameron, of no fixed address; Hutchinson, of Christchurch Road, Tulse Hill; Thomas, of Coalville Terrace, Ladbroke Grove; Albert, of no fixed address; Cross, of Chryssell Road, Kennington; and Wabara, of Risley Avenue, Tottenham, deny murder and attempted murder.

Cameron and Albert both deny possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

The trial continues.