Boy (12) tells court he saw Masbrough man John Methley "murdered" in street

Two men — Kyle Greenwood and Nafees Hussain, both 20 — are on trial at Sheffield Crown Court accused of killing 39-year-old John Methley near the Midland Hotel in Masbrough.

Mr Methley, of College Road, Rotherham, died six days after the attack, which may have been drug related.

The young witness said Hussain hit Mr Methley with what he thought was a metal stick — said by the prosecution to be a golf club — “ten or 11 times” in an attack which lasted about five to ten minutes.

Mr David Brooke, prosecuting, told the jury the boy and a friend had been walking home from the Noor Ul Huda mosque off Wilton Lane and were the only eyewitnesses to the beating.

One of them saw an Asian man, who the prosecution say is Hussain, pulling up in a black Seat, and a “weak” Mr Methley walking along the road.

Mr Brooke said Hussain’s car was being driven by Adam Khan (20), who denies one count of assisting an offender.

The boy heard the Asian man say to the white man: “Come here, I’m not going to hit you,” the prosecutor said.

The boy told how he saw Mr Methley try to run away  — but another white man, Greenwood, arrived in a white Seat and “took him down”.

“The first man got a metal stick out of his trousers and hit the deceased to the head and body while the other man punched and kicked him,” said Mr Brooke.

“The man on the ground was screaming and [the boy who gave evidence] could see blood.”

Mr Brooke said the two men then ran to their cars and were driven off, with Greenwood being driven in a white Seat by girlfriend, Hana Riaz (20), of Spa View Road, Sheffield, who admitted assisting an offender at the beginning of the trial.

Mr Abdul Iqbal, QC, cross-examining the boy on Tuesday, asked him: “When you saw people chasing the guy, were you scared at the time?”

The boy said: “Yes.”

He said Mr Methley had been kicked “hard in the face” and punched.

Mr Methley, who was unconscious, was taken to the Northern General Hospital after the attack on February 4 and died six days later.

Mr Brooke said the whole incident had been captured by a CCTV camera on a nearby building.

He said Mr Methley had been had buying prescription drugs illegally from an address on Dovercourt Road, which Greenwood had links to, and suggested illegal drug-dealing may have been a motive for the attack.

Katie Whithead, another drug user, told police she had given Hussain a golf club, which he sometimes used for protection, on the day of the attack.

The prosecution say this is the murder weapon.

Greenwood, of Spa View Road, Sheffield, and Hussain, of no fixed abode, deny murder. The trial continues.