Man downed Jagerbombs after meeting girlfriend's brother for first time then 'killed him'
Liverpool Crown Court heard how a blossoming bromance between Stephen Bates and Martin O'Donovan turned into murder on the first day the two men had met at a birthday party
A man killed his girlfriend's brother with a car on the day they met for the first time - hours after beginning a blossoming 'bromance', a court has heard.
Martin O'Donovan, 47, died after a vehicle ploughed into him outside his sibling's home in April this year, on the day they had celebrated their mum's 70th birthday. Stephen Bates, of Mossley Hill, Merseyside, went on trial at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday accused of his murder. He denies the charge.
Later, Bates allegedly went on to issue a series of threats to kill O'Donovan following a drunken fight. The 42-year-old then returned to the scene in his Ford Fiesta and "deliberately drove straight at him", leaving him trapped underneath the car with serious head injuries. He went on to tell police officers who attended the scene: "I know what I've done, I've f****d up."
Jurors were played footage of a pre-recorded interview which Susanne Lewzey, Bates' girlfriend and Mr O'Donovan's sister, gave to detectives the next day. During the video, she said of the party: "Everything was good. Everyone was having a good time. Me and Stephen, my boyfriend, my brother and my mum started having a few drinks at about 3 o'clock, a couple of hours before everyone else came, the LiverpoolEcho report.
"It was good. No issues. It was the first time my brother and my boyfriend had met. He doesn't come home that much. He lives in Birmingham. They hit it off straight away, it was all good. They were just having a laugh, downing shots, getting a little bit more drunk as time went on. Everyone was laughing about how they had a bit of a bromance. They were all made up with each other. Typical party, everything was fine.
"As the night went on, I noticed Stephen was getting a bit too drunk. I've never seen him that drunk. I've been with him 19 months. If we go out, we have two or three. I've never seen him bladdered or heavily drunk before, but he was. He was very drunk. I thought, he's starting to get on people's nerves. I didn't want to make a fuss. I said, 'come and sit in the living room, have a sit down for 10 minutes'. I said 'nobody's complaining, but you've had a lot to drink babe, you need to have a little chill and have some water for a bit'.
"He said, 'do you want me to go home then, I'm a k***head?'. He started to get in a mood. That snowballed then. Not in a massive way at first. I said, I don't want you to go home, there’s no problem. You’ve had a lot to drink. It's my mum's birthday party and I want to enjoy it. You can either have a sit down and chill or I'll order you a taxi. He said 'I'll go, I'm walking'.
"I ordered him an Uber, and it turned up in a few minutes. He was at his car door, 'get out the way, I'm driving'. This went on for five, 10 minutes. I was trying to calm him down. I was saying 'I love you, you're going to kill yourself or someone else, you're not getting in this car, end of'.
"I was dead calm. I said, you're not getting in the car. He said, 'get out my f***ing face right now'. I went right, ok, gave him his keys then ran in and said 'Martin, I can't stop him from getting in that car, please go out, he's going to kill himself'.
"They were just sitting there talking, calm. Everything was calm. I don't know how long later it was, they came together into the hall, the front door, my brother first then Stephen. I don't know what got said. It went from being calm to them fighting. They were literally just battering each other in the garden. I was like, what the hell? I didn't understand what had happened."
Ms Lewzey recalled that the two men were "bashing against her car" and "rolling around the front garden", adding: "They were just going at it. I managed to separate them. I was saying, 'stop it, stop it, just stop'. Other people had hold of my brother. Steven was still antagonising, 'look at you, you're a f***ing p***y, you're a c***, you're all c***s. I was like, 'pack it in'.
"Then he's again [said], 'I'm getting my car, no one's f***ing telling me'. He was like, 'this is not gonna be the same again after this, all your family are c***s'. Then he was trying to get back in his car, and this conversation has started again."
Ms Lewzey said her sister Natalie O'Donovan subsequently offered to drive Bates home in his own car, which he agreed to. She added: "I thought, well, at least that's that and he's home. I went back inside. Everything was kind of alright. I was just fuming that they'd been fighting. It was my mum's birthday. I'm livid. This was supposed to be a nice party.
"My brother came up and said, 'I'm so sorry we ended up fighting, but I can't be having him threatening my sister, he's out of order'. I was like, 'I'm not even mad at you, I appreciate what you've done, but it's just not on, I don't want that here'. He was like, 'I love you and I'll protect you'. I said there won't be an issue because he's not coming back, I don't want to speak to him ever again. That was that, I thought."
However, Ms Lewzey then received a phone call from Ms O'Donovan in which she learned that Bates had directed her to Barndale Road, the street next to where he lived, before getting behind the wheel and driving away without her. She said of this: "She said, 'oh my god, he's just got in the car and sped off'. I was like, you are kidding. I'm fuming.
"I opened my front door and my brother was sitting on the wall. I was just about to say to him, 'Martin, he's got in his car'. I literally just opened it, and his car appeared. His car just appeared. It went right into the wall.
"Within a split second, my brother had jumped up. He basically jumped off the wall, because he'd seen the car, and ran to dodge the car. He went to hit him, stopped, turned and just ran him straight full over, and I mean, like full blast. I went ballistic. I could see my brother face down under his car. He was still revving it, trying to carry on. I thought, he's going to run over him again with the back wheels.
"I was just banging on the driver's window like, 'stop, stop'. He was just like, nothing. I was terrified. I opened the driver's door and started hitting him, saying 'stop, stop, he's under the car'. I grabbed the keys out of the ignition. He just looked at me and got out the car. I don't know where he went. I never seen him again."
Bates, who is represented by Andrew Haslam KC and Nicola Daley, denies murder, having pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter. The trial, before Judge Neil Flewitt KC, continues.