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'I watched my brother die in brick attack'
THE sister of a Sheffield man allegedly killed by a brick-wielding youth broke down in court as she recalled the fatal blow.
Tracey Wass sobbed in the witness box at Sheffield Crown Court as she described how her brother Craig Wass, aged 39, fell to the ground after their 19-year-old neighbour Ryan Ward struck him with a brick.
The fight broke out on May 9 after Ward, of Phillips Road, Loxley, and his pals Daniel Brammah, 20, and Matthew Hague, 21, got embroiled in a row with other neighbours in the street and Mr Wass stepped in.
She said: "Ryan Ward walked away, he bent down, and he picked a brick up.
"Then Ryan chucked the brick and it hit him. He just shrugged his shoulders, turned to walk home, and said, 'That didn't hurt'.
"Ryan then picked up another brick and pummelled him with it.
"The brick hit him on the back of the head and he fell to the floor. It was a jagged brick - it went straight into the back of his head.Craig just stood there and then the next minute his legs buckled underneath him and he fell to the floor."
Miss Wass told jurors the argument escalated after Ward accused Mr Wass of making a statement about him to the police following an incident two months earlier.
Ward had been due to stand trial for the alleged offence - waving a knife at Miss Wass' partner Craig Allen after he'd asked Ward and his pals to keep the noise down - the following week.
She said: "I remember my brother saying to him, 'I'm your mate, Ryan, I haven't made a statement against you'.
"Then my mum shouted, 'He hasn't gone as a witness against you'.
"Ryan Ward shouted, 'Shut up and get in the house', and my brother told him not to speak to my mum like that."
Mr Wass, a dad-of-four also of Phillips Road, died from a fractured skull after smashing his head on the ground.
Ward denies murder, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and affray on March 9 and May 9.
Brammah, 20, of Alders Green, Loxley, denies affray on both occasions, and Hague, 21, of Scraithwood Drive, Shirecliffe, denies affray on May 9.
The trial continues.
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Weather for Sheffield
Friday 10 February 2012
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