'Attack victim' died from brain injury, murder trial jury hears

The prosecution has alleged that Cameroon national Achu Dickson Ngu was the victim of a “sustained and deliberate” assault at the terraced house on Redcar Street.

Tauseef Younis, 28, of Harvest Court, Halifax, was charged with murder after Mr Ngu died at the Leeds General Infirmary following an operation to try and deal with a brain haemorrhage.

Prosecutor Jonathan Sharp told a jury at Bradford Crown Court this morning (Monday) that Mr Ngu was kept in intensive care until June 21, but he died three weeks and four days after the attack.

The jury heard that Younis, who has denied the murder charge, handed himself in to police four days after the incident in the house.

In his interview he said that he had got into an argument with Mr Ngu and it had escalated into a fight.

Younis claimed that Mr Ngu had gripped him and that he (Younis) had punched him once in the teeth and again in the jaw before leaving the house.

“He said the punches were not hard, about four on a scale of one to 10,” Mr Sharp told the jury.

“He agreed that basically he was saying that he had acted in self defence.”

After Mr Ngu’s death Younis was re-interviewed and in a prepared statement he said he had punched him “no more that three times”.

Opening the case to the jury Mr Sharp alleged that Mr Ngu had been sitting on a sofa in the house when Younis arrived at the property at about midnight on May 27.

“Tauseef Younis said Achu owed him £5,” said Mr Sharp.

“He got onto the sofa, knees either side of Achu, sat on his legs, and began punching him hard in the face.”

Mr Sharp said a witness to the assault described it as “real bad, just punching him going mad...really punching him”.

Younis left the house after allegedly being pulled off by a woman and Mr Ngu’s bloodied face was cleaned with a cloth.

Mr Ngu, who had been staying at the house for a few weeks was left on the sofa, but the next afternoon an ambulance had to be called and a paramedic found him deeply unconscious with his heart racing.

“The blows he had received from Tauseef Younis had been so violent that they had swung his head backwards and forwards and had caused serious brain damage,” alleged Mr Sharp.

At the LGI Mr Ngu was given a brain scan which indicated that his brain had moved within the skull rupturing a vein and causing a haemorrhage.

Mr Sharp alleged that the extent of the injuries were “a marker” of severe force having been used.

In an opening address to the jury Younis’ barrister Richard Wright QC said his client accepted punching Mr Ngu to the head “a few times”.

He said the jury would hear that Mr Ngu started the incident when he tried to get money off his client and that Younis never intended to kill him or cause him really serious harm.

“What happened to Achu is very sad and unfortunate but we will argue it does not amount to murder though it may amount to a lesser charge,” said Mr Wright.

He said no one present at the house thought Mr Ngu was badly injured and neither did Younis when he left the house.

The trial continues.