Walsall street fight broke out before planned peace meeting could happen, court told
A Walsall man accused of being part of a brawl between feuding families told a jury the incident pre-empted a meeting to resolve the dispute.
Muhammed Hassan, 21, was captured on film swinging a cricket bat and a pole when violence erupted between neighbours in Lewis Street, Birchills, Walsall, on the evening of June 10, 2020.
Hassan, of Lewis Street, denies violent disorder.
Wolverhampton Crown Court has heard that the trouble started after a man called Kevin Gill was punched and there was retaliation.
Giving evidence on the witness stand, Hassan, who was not seen hitting anyone, told the jury that it was "absolutely the truth" that due to a dispute, a meeting had been planned for a religious leader to mediate between the parties that night.
Hassan told the jury: "The main man should have come at 9pm, but I think the other people had already planned this trouble.
"The people who were outside our house, were just local people standing there. Kevin doesn't go across the road to cause any trouble. They gesture to him. It kicks off after that," he added.
Hassan also insisted that he did not know the name of a man filmed removing a snooker cue from the boot of a green car parked near his home, who then used it to hit someone from the opposing side, causing it to snap.
Judge Michael Chambers KC asked Hassan: "The person with the cue look as if he's on your side. Are you sure you don't know who he is?
Hassan replied that he did not.
He said: "At one point I was attacked.That incident isn't on the footage shown to the court. There was four of them on me."
Around four people were injured during the incident which saw people also swinging poles and a shovel.
The trial continues.
