Two brothers deny beating a man to death in South Yorkshire after an alleged vodka night

A Sheffield Crown Court trial has heard on June 9 how Florin Andrei, aged 45, and his brother Gabriel Andrei, aged 41, had allegedly been drinking vodka with Alexandru and Catalin Rizea - who were also brothers - at Gabriel’s home on Pindar Oaks Cottages, near Kendray, Barnsley.

Sam Green QC, prosecuting, said the Rizea brothers had visited the Andrei brothers because of a work connection and Florin Andrei, of no fixed abode, and Alexandru Rizea twice visited the Lilo Euro Market, on Doncaster Road, where Alexandru bought vodka before they returned to Gabriel’s home.

Mr Green claimed the men, who speak Romanian, had been drinking at the property overnight during October 11 and 12, 2020, but the mood changed and the Andrei brothers allegedly attacked the Rizea brothers.

He said: “Both the Rizea brothers were subjected to a sustained and vicious assault by the defendants together using hands and feet and probably one or two weapons.

"Alexandru lost consciousness due to the assault upon him and when he woke up it was late. He saw Catalin in a chair not moving and thought his brother was dead and he made his escape from the property through a ground floor window.”

A motorist took Alexandru to Kendray Hospital, according to Mr Green, and he was transferred to Sheffield’s Royal Hallamshire Hospital with bleeding on the brain and facial and head injuries.

Mr Green said police found blood on the door of Gabriel Andrei’s home and found Catalin Rizea covered by a coat with a gash and blood on his head.

The Andrei brothers suggested to police the Rizea brothers had fallen out and had too much to drink and they may have been fighting with each other.

Police found blood on a chair, a table, a sofa and in the area around Catalin Rizea and paramedics took him to Sheffield’s Northern General Hospital.

Mr Green said Catalin had sustained a brain injury and a decision was made to withdraw his life support and he was pronounced dead on October 14, 2020.

A post mortem examination revealed Catalin had died as a result of a blunt force trauma causing bleeding and widespread nerve injury to the brain.

The court heard the pathologist found lacerations to Catalin’s scalp which were most likely caused by a blunt object as well as a cut caused from a knife or broken glass.

Mr Green added forensic evidence includes a blood-spattered tracksuit top allegedly belonging to Florin Andrei, a blood stained t-shirt allegedly belonging to Catalin Rizea, a blood-stained knife and a broken vodka bottle neck.

Both defendants, who gave no comment in police interviews, have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Catalin Rizea and not guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Alexandru Rizea.

Mr Green said: “The reality, suggest the prosecution, is that the defendants together attacked Alexandru and Catalin extremely violently intending to cause at least really serious bodily harm and they succeeded in doing that with one and they killed the other.”

The trial continues.

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