Tag: drowned
Grieving dad ‘tried to kill man with machete’ in ‘eye for an eye attack’ outside gym after his son, 18, drowned
A GRIEVING dad tried to kill a man he blamed for the death of his son in a brutal “eye for an eye” machete attack, a court heard yesterday.
Samson Price, 48, almost succeeded in killing Patrick Brown in the “pre planned” attack outside a gym in Northwich, Cheshire, in September 2021, Chester Crown Court was told.
Samson Price arrived at court in handcuffs[/caption]
Mr Brown was viciously attacked in broad daylight[/caption]
Price had stalked Mr Brown with a tracker for days because he blamed him for the death of his son Samson Jr., 18, who had drowned in a pond in Wigan in October 2020.
He lay in wait for Mr Brown outside the PureGym and rained five to six blows on his body in daylight as horrified gym users looked on.
Mr Brown, who was 20 at the time of the attack, was “millimetres from bleeding to death” but was saved by “sheer luck” and very prompt medical treatment after gym users called the emergency services.
Father-of-two Price was furious that Brown, who was 19 at the time, and two others were not charged with murder after Samson’s death the previous October.
They had been arrested on suspicion of murder after the friends had gone to a pond called Westwood Flash in Wigan to take the hallucinogenic drug LSD.
The jury was told that Brown said they had been camping and Samson Price Jr. had started behaving strangely and had gone missing.
He was later found drowned in the pond.
The jury was told that no charges were brought and police told the Price family in March 2021 that Samson’s death was an accident which left the family “very angry”.
Prosecutor Simon Mills told the court: “This was a pre-planned attack on Mr Brown as he came out of the gym where Price had been waiting with his weapon concealed on his person.
“He came very close to achieving his aim of killing Patrick Brown. He inflicted numerous blows to his head,face, back and arms. He may well have thought that he had done enough to kill Patrick Brown.
“He ran off and remained at large for three weeks before eventually handing himself in at a police station in Wakefield, West Yorks.
“The defendant had a motive to carry out this deadly attack. He blames Patrick Brown for the death of his son and he was angry that the police did not prosecute him over it.
“The prosecution contends that this was a case of an eye for an eye.”
Price accepts attacking Brown but denies he intended to kill him.
He has admitted grievous bodily harm with intent but has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, but the plea is not accepted by the prosecution.
Mr Mills said that Price and his wife Rosanna had “made it clear to the police that they considered the people who had been arrested were responsible for their son’s death”.
He said that the “understandable grief and raw emotion of a grieving mother and father” were shown in messages the couple had exchanged in the weeks before the attack.
Price told his wife that he considered himself to have died after his son’s death.
He wrote: “These feelings are hardest to deal with. Nothing will bring him back. It’s the senselessness, the unfairness and the injustice of it.”
His wife wrote: “We should be rowing and worrying about him going to all these festivals. I cannot get it into my head that he is not here and I will never hear his voice.”
Price added: “We have nothing left to look forward to. I consider myself to have died with Samson and I honestly don’t care what happens to me any more.”
His wife tried “to pull him round ” by reminding him that their daughter Atlanta needed him.
Price replied:” I am not going to harm myself. I will most likely try to harm others. I don’t think I can handle the anniversary. I can’t see me coping with that. Not that.”
The trial continues.
Samson Price Jr. died after drowning in the pond[/caption]
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Grieving dad storms out of court as Brit teachers of schoolgirl, 12, who drowned in France found not guilty over tragedy
THE dad of a girl who drowned on a school trip has stormed out of court after three teachers were cleared over the tragedy.
Jessica Lawson, 12, died after a pontoon capsized in a lake near the city of Limoges, in France, during a six day adventure holiday with her school.
Jessica Lawson died on a school trip to France[/caption]
Teachers Steven Layne, left, and Chantelle Lewis leaving the court[/caption]
The children from the Hull school had gone for a swim in Maury park in Liginiac and were jumping off an orange pontoon.
More than 20 children had climbed on to the platform, which was designed for less than half that number when it collapsed, flipping over as it did so.
Teachers Steven Layne, Chantelle Lewis and Daisy Stathers were cleared of any wrongdoing, at a court in the district of Tulle.
Head of jurisdiction in Tulle, Marie-Sophie Waguette said: “There is therefore no evidence to show that they were negligent, therefore you are found not guilty.”
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Jessica’s dad, Tony Lawson, left the courtroom when the verdicts were announced, with both Ms Lewis and Ms Stathers breaking down into tears.
The lifeguard on duty at the time, Leo Lemaire, and the local authority in the town of Liginiac were also found not guilty over her death.
The prosecution had alleged none of teachers could see where Jessica was during the swim due to a lack of surveillance.
Ms Waguette told the court the teachers had “not failed to comply with their requirement to monitor the activity”.
“The area was being surveyed by the lifeguard, the lifeguard was present, the flag was green,” she said.
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“There was not any reason to think that the floating platform could turn over.”
A lawyer for the schoolgirl’s family Eloi Chan said they hoped the public prosecutor would appeal the court’s decision, pointing to many issues.
“A young girl of 12 disappeared, the pontoon was dangerous and there was an obvious lack of surveillance. Another court must hear this,” said the lawyer.
The trial earlier heard how Ms Lewis “started to panic” during the incident and “asked ‘where’s Jess’?”
Her colleague, Ms Stathers, said she also became “increasingly panicked” after realising Jessica was missing.
“But there were 23 other students we were trying to get out (of the water) so I was trying to stay calm.”
The teacher who was in charge of the trip, Mr Layne, told the court he thought the pontoon was a safety feature.
The schoolgirl’s mother, Brenda Lawson, said her family had been through “torturous suffering” since her daughter’s death, describing her as “full of fun, laughter and care”.
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Mr Lawson has revealed how Jessica’s death has traumatised the couple so much is has cost them their jobs and family home.
He says his family are now living hand-to-mouth in Portugal
“This devastated our lives, our business, our daughters. Our lives are
unrecognisable.”