Good Samaritans on how they tried to stop Gurmail Singh killers
Sep 8 2010 Huddersfield Daily Examiner
Gurmail Singh
A JURY has heard a distressed 999 call made to police following the fatal attack on shopkeeper Gurmail Singh.
In it, witness Ruth Stynes tells the operator: “This is twice this week this man’s been robbed.”
She is then heard to say: “Oh, we need an ambulance. They have hurt him.”
The call was played during Miss Stynes’ evidence at the Bradford Crown Court trial of five men accused of murdering Mr Singh at Cowcliffe Convenience Stores, on Cowcliffe Hill Road, on February 20.
The 63-year-old died after being bludgeoned with bottles of wine during a robbery.
Miss Stynes was one of four friends who had been drinking at the Shepherd’s Arms pub, opposite the shop, when the incident happened.
They were outside having a smoke when one of them, David Singh, went to investigate what was happening after he saw two men leaving the shop with hoods pulled up over their heads.
He saw two others inside and pulled the front door shut to trap them.
Miss Stynes, who went to help him hold on, told the court how she came face to face with one of the robbers as they battered the window in a bid to escape.
She said he was shouting at her through the glass: “F***ing move!”
Her partner, Paul Colletta, who also gave evidence, said: “I thought she was in danger.
“By the time I could say anything she was up the steps and something smashed against the window. I thought: ‘What if they have got a gun?’
“I screamed at her to get away.”
Another of the foursome, David Singh’s partner Debbie Riley, told how Gurmail Singh had been planning to install a panic alarm after suffering a robbery just two days earlier.
Ms Riley said she had spoken to him about it on the day of the attack.
She said: “Because we are quite a close community, people had spoken about the incident and been quite upset about the fact there had been an incident on the Thursday.
“So when I went in there on the Saturday we had a brief conversation about it. I asked him about putting a panic button under the counter.”
She added: “His answer was he had already made arrangements for someone to come on the Monday.”
The jury also heard from Christopher Stoney, who chased the second pair of men after they escaped and ran down Netheroyd Hill Road.
Mr Stoney, who lives opposite the shop, rugby tackled one to the ground.
As they were on the ground, Mr Stoney punched the man repeatedly.
