The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A teenage girl accused of murdering Spalding man Warren Free later complained that her foot was injured when she kicked him in the head, a jury heard on Wednesday (June 24).
The 15-year-old, who was interviewed by police on four occasions after being arrested, said that the kick she delivered was the final blow suffered by Mr Free during an incident in a Spalding park which left him with a fatal head injury.
The jury at Lincoln Crown Court heard that the teenager told police: “One minute he was up. When I kicked him he just went straight down. He was just laid there not making any movement.”
She said she and the others in the group did not call for medical assistance for Mr Free and told officers: “We were all petrified. We didn’t know what we’d done. I was just scared at getting into trouble. I’ve never been in that situation.”
The girl, who cannot be identified, said she broke down in tears as she walked home afterwards adding: “My foot was hurting from where I kicked him.”
She said her thoughts were: “Have I killed him? What have I done?”
Earlier she told officers how she struck out at Mr Free with a metal pole after he was put to the ground by one of the male defendants. She said another girl, who is also accused of murder, jumped on Mr Free’s abdomen with both feet.
The 15-year-old admitted striking four blows with the pole after Mr Free grabbed her ankle but she said two of the blows struck her co-defendants.
“He just wouldn’t let go of my ankle. His head was already cut. He still wouldn’t let go so I just smacked him again. I didn’t use full force. It wasn’t hard enough to kill him just hard enough to make him let go.”
The prosecution alleges that Mr Free (42) was kicked, punched and stamped on by the group of teenagers before a girl struck him over the head several times with a metal pole.
He went home to bed but friends were later unable to rouse him. An ambulance was called and he was airlifted to hospital but passed away within 24 hours from a head injury.
Six teenagers all deny the murder of Mr Free on August 29, 2014. Three of the defendants, including a girl, were 14 at the time while the others were a girl of 15 and a 16-year-old together with Jake Edwards, of Mill Green Road, Pinchbeck (now 18).
Two of the boys, who were 14 and 16 at the time, each deny a charge of perverting the course of justice relating to the disposal of the metal pole in a nearby waterway.
The trial continues.
