A man has gone on trial in England accused of killing an Irish man after delivering a “devastating punch” to his jaw in a street fight.
Kevin Kelly (27), from Goresbridge, Co Kilkenny, fell face down on the ground during the incident in Luton on May 1st, 2016.
Richard Wood (24), who is accused of throwing the punch, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of manslaughter at Luton Crown Court.
Opening the case, prosecutor Peter Shaw said it was the crown’s case that Mr Wood threw “a series of punches, one of which proved to be fatal”.
He described it as a “devastating punch” and said a postmortem concluded the cause of death was a subarachnoid brain haemorrhage.
The jury was told Mr Kelly had been out in Luton socialising and left After 8 nightclub at about 5am.
Judge Michael Kay QC heard Mr Wood and a friend were coming in the opposite direction.
Exchange of words
“There was an exchange of words between Mr Kelly and Mr Wood as they passed. Whatever was said Mr Kelly threw a punch at Mr Wood. It was followed by Wood throwing several punches towards Kelly,” said Mr Shaw.
He said that six or seven punches were exchanged before “Mr Kelly fell face first to the ground without, tellingly, putting his hand out to stop or break his fall”.
Police officers arrived quickly to the scene at Upper George Street and found Mr Kelly had stopped breathing.
There were “fruitless” efforts to resuscitate the father of one, and doctors treating him in hospital later declared him to be brain-dead and discontinued life support.
The court was told Mr Wood left the scene, but was arrested a short time later. He told police it was Mr Kelly who had attacked him and he was acting in self-defence.
The case continues.