Thomas Carney, 28, denies murdering 76-year-old David Phillips at his home in Neath on Valentine’s Day
Thomas Carney is accused of killing 76-year-old David Phillips at his home in Neath on Valentine’s Day this year, reports Wales Online.
The jury at Swansea Crown Court were told that Mr Phillips lived alone in the flat and was friends with Carney before his death.
Patrick Harrington QC, opening the case for the prosecution, said: “The defendant, Thomas Carney, attacked and killed 76-year-old Mr Phillips.
“The defendant had been welcomed at the home of his victim, he had been invited there because he was desperate for alcohol and agreed to go there in return for homosexual sexual favours.
“He [Carney] left the property but later returned in a foul mood, and in a rage he smashed his way back in before committing a savage and fatal attack.”
He said that while Mr Phillips was laying on his back on the floor of his study Carney “stamped and stamped and stamped” on his head, using both feet before picking up a wooden stool and hitting the pensioner.
The barrister told the jury they will hear from the legal defence team later in the trial that Mr Phillips had previous convictions for pedophile offences.
But, Mr Harrington said, “this does not justify his being murdered”.
The court heard how Carney and Mr Phillips were ‘quite close friends’ before the alleged murder.
The barrister said there was regular phone contact between the men in the days and weeks before February 14.
As part of the opening of the prosecution case Mr Harrington said that a neighbor in a flat across the hallway from Mr Phillips was watching TV when she heard loud banging that sounded “like a ram raid”.
The barrister says the neighbor described Carney as “pulverizing” Mr Phillips by stamping on his head.
Carney was found by officers a short time later in a garden in nearby Pine Grove, clutching a can of lager, the court was told.
The jury was told he said to officers: “He was trying to rape, he was trying to rape me”.
