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Witness claims he saw street fight outside bar

A Supreme Court jury yesterday heard from a witness who said he saw two men attacking another man — leaving him curled on the ground with blood coming from his mouth.

Michael Sharpe's statement was read to the court during the trial of Frederick Anthony Swann and Carlena Caines, because he is a university student in Ontario.

Swann, 27, is charged with causing grievous bodily harm to Damon Robinson on August 15, 2009 while Caines, 29, is charged with being an accessory to the fact after a felony, and helping her boyfriend Jermaine Simmons, 27, flee the scene and the Island. They deny the charges.

The prosecution alleges that 32-year-old Mr. Robinson was kicked repeatedly by Simmons and Swann as he walked down the stairs of Champions Sports Club around 5 a.m.

He was beaten unconscious outside the club. He suffered a broken jaw in two places, a collapsed left lung, and bleeding and swelling to his brain.

In the statement, Mr. Sharpe described a 'tall guy and a bigger guy fighting with a little guy'.

The witness's statement said he went to Champions that night after partying at Levels and a house party. A female friend called him to the sports bar.

Mr. Sharpe's statement said he went to take the trash outside and saw three men in the street.

One man was on one side of the street and was about 5ft 9ins, slim and light skinned and appeared drunk, the court heard.

Mr. Sharpe said the other two men were across the street and described them as both having on white shirts but didn't see their faces. He said one was tall and the other was bigger than the tall man.

"They were all shouting. After I had a quick glance, I saw that he was walking across the street and it looking like he chucked a Corona Light bottle at them. I heard one of the two guys say 'I'm going to kill him'. The single guy threw the bottle and missed."

Mr. Sharpe's statement said the trio ended up in the middle of the road and he believed the bigger man hit the victim first and then a couple more times.

"I saw the tall guy kick the small guy. The big guy was doing the most," he added.

The court also heard from Detective Constables Shawnta Edmonson and Cheryl Beach who both identified Swann and Simmons from CCTV footage.

D.C. Edmonson said she had met Swann once when he was dating a friend of hers and D.C. Beach said she knew Swann's mother who was a Police reserve.

The defence is due to open their case on Monday.

The trial continues.