"Psychopath" murder suspect "threatened witness's family"

A WITNESS to the fatal attack on a Rotherham pensioner says murder suspect Dale Jones (30) — whom he described as a “psychopath” — threatened to hurt him and his family if he went to police.

Kieran Rice, of Oak Meadows, East Dene, testified at Sheffield Crown Court this morning.

Prosecutor Mr Andrew Robertson asked whether Jones, of East Bawtry Road, had said anything to him the next day about the attack in which pensioner Mushin Ahmed (pictured) died.

Rice replied: “Yes. He said: ‘If you say owt your family's getting it and you're getting it.’”

Rice told the court he did not know who threw the first punch that knocked Mr Ahmed (81) down.

His brother Shane Rice told police that Jones launched the attack, repeating this claim in court on Wednesday morning.

But in the afternoon he said he had lied and co-defendant Damien Hunt (30) had landed the first blow on Mr Ahmed’s face.

Shane Rice said his brother Kieran had told him to lie, as he was then locked up in the same cell as Hunt and feared violence if Hunt was implicated.

Shane Rice told a police officer during a break in his testimony: “I’ve been made to look an idiot.

“What was I supposed to do? I was too far down the road of a lie. Kieran was [locked] up with him.”

This comment was taken down and handed in to the court.

Mr Andrew O'Byrne, defending Jones, asked Kieran Rice: “Did you ask Shane to lie?”

Rice replied: “I don't know. About what?”

Mr O'Byrne said: “Did you ask him to lie about anything?”

Rice answered: “I don’t know, I can’t remember. My head's f*****.

“I did six weeks in prison for nothing and I’ve had hassle off everybody.”

CCTV cameras showed the Rice brothers walk to the end of the alley in Eastwood where Mr Ahmed was attacked, then put their hoods up and walk away.

Mr O'Byrne asked Kieran Rice about what he had seen of the attack on Mr Ahmed.

Rice said: “I don't know what happened. Dale or Damien smacked him first but I don't know which one.”

He added: “Jones is a psychopath. If the police had gone to get him at 11 o'clock or 12 o'clock this wouldn't have happened.”

The court heard earlier that Jones was angry about an earlier incident, he said, when he had gone to the home of Mark Senior and complained about his stepson sleeping on Senior’s sofa and not in a bed.

Rice agreed with his brother Shane that Jones had accused Mr Ahmed of being “out grooming” before attacking him.

Mr O'Byrne put it to Rice that Jones did not say that, but someone else did.

Rice replied: “No, Dale said it.”

Jones and Hunt both deny murder. The trial continues.

Murder suspect "attacked after turning other cheek to abuse"

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