A cat was stabbed during a break-in which led to the death of burglar, jurors in a murder trial were told.
Liverpool Crown Court also heard Jordan Brophy, who was himself stabbed multiple times by Karl Townsend after breaking into his Halewood home with two other men, had multiple previous convictions for carrying knives and threatening to stab people with them. Townsend and his half brother Jamie Cunningham are currently on trial for Mr Brophy’s murder and for possession of a bladed article.
Both deny the charges, with Townsend maintaining he was defending himself and feared for his life. He had discovered Mr Brophy and the other men burgling his home Beechwood Avenue after being alerted by a Ring doorbell alert.
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Prosecutors allege Townsend then attacked Mr Brophy “out of revenge or punishment”, inflicting two sets of wounds on him, one inside his home when he found him there and another a few minutes later outside on Beechwood Avenue. The pair allegedly armed themselves with knives after being alerted by Ring doorbell to a break-in at Townsend's Halewood home.
Prosecutors say they rushed to the address and confronted the intruders. Townsend is said to have stabbed Mr Brophy in the head and arm, before twice knifing him in the face. One stab wound went through his left optic nerve and damaged his temporal lobe.
Townsend says that just before he inflicted this wound Mr Brophy threatened and lunged at him with a knife and another of the burglars pointed a gun at him. Prosecutors dispute the presence of a gun or the the claim that Townsend was threatened.
Liverpool Crown Court has heard Townsend and Cunningham then left the scene but returned moments later. Prosecutors say Townsend allegedly stabbed the "defenceless" 31-year-old in his jugular vein out of “revenge or punishment”.
The dad of one says he returned to the home to look for his partner and child who were nearby and then heard someone threaten to shoot him, He claims it is in this context that he thought the lives of both himself and his family were in danger, shortly before he stabbed Mr Brophy in the jugular vein.
Richard Pratt, QC, prosecuting, told jurors early on in the trial that Townsend does not dispute causing Mr Brophy's death but denies murder. Throughout the last two weeks jurors have heard a range of evidence from both prosecution and defence witnesses and been shown footage of the prolonged incident from various angles.
They heard the last of the evidence today before closing speeches in the trial begin. Nick Cockrell, defending Townsend, read a series of background facts that have so far not been heard by the jury.
They were told that when police investigators arrived at Townsend’s Beechwood Avenue home after the incident unfolded they discovered the family cat, Cally, with what appeared to be a stab wound. An officer subsequently took the animal to a vet who confirmed she had a knife wound about 3cm to 4cm deep close to her spine.
He said: “Her opinion was that it was caused by a deliberate action that would have taken some moderate force.” There was no conclusion about who stabbed the cat and Mr Cockrell said she had subsequently recovered. Mr Cockrell also revealed to jurors that Mr Brophy had a number of convictions involving knives.
These include a March 2016 incident which saw him threaten a man with a knife while asking him for £300 and another in June 2021 when he did the same thing to another man after an altercation outside a GP surgery. The city’s top judge, Andrew Menary, QC, has begun giving the jury legal directions before closing speeches commence. It is expected the jury will then begin deliberations later this week.
