Kesgrave shooting: Accused planned attack for a year, prosecutors claim

Following the shooting, the 15-year-old boy allegedly stood near the victim - who was lying in a pool of blood - with “no sense of urgency” and according to witnesses “appeared to have all day”, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

A friend of both boys later told police that the 15-year-old had been subjected to "low-level bullying” by the victim, but not enough to justify shooting him.

A 16-year-old boy is on trial for attempted murder (Image: Archant)

He also said the boy had been planning the attack for a year but he had wrongly assumed the boy was joking.

The teenager - who cannot be named because of his age - has denied attempted murder, possession of a shotgun with intent to endanger life, wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and possessing a shotgun with intent to cause fear of violence in relation to a man who witnessed the incident.

Riel Karmy-Jones QC, prosecuting, told the court that on September 7 last year, the defendant - who is now 16 - took his grandfather’s double barrelled shotgun and drove to Friends Walk, in Grange Farm, Kesgrave, in his father’s car.

He lay in wait for more than an hour and when he saw the boy, who was a pupil at Kesgrave High School, at around 8.40am, he ordered him to get in the car, she said.

The boy, also aged 15, refused and was then shot at close range, resulting in a “significant" injury to the side of his face, the court heard.

The court heard that he recalled hearing a bang and falling to the ground and seeing the defendant, who he described as his best friend, standing nearby looking “calm and collected and not bothered”.

He suffered a stroke after being taken to hospital, which had left him partially paralysed with some brain damage and he wasn’t fit enough to attend court, said Miss Karmy-Jones.

She claimed that the teenager had been taught how taught how to use a gun by his grandfather and had "set out to kill" the boy after carefully planning what he was going to do.

A friend of the boys said that a year before the attack, the defendant had allegedly told him he wanted to shoot someone and that he was going to try and get a gun - but he had dismissed it as fantasy.

The defendant had later told him he had chosen the victim as the person he was going to shoot and kill.

He said the defendant had practised shooting a BB gun at targets in his bedroom and on one occasion had shot him in the chest.

He said that shortly before the shooting the defendant had screamed: “I’m going to put you in the ground” during a confrontation with a motorist who had beeped his horn at him.

He had also allegedly told him he was going to carry out his plan to shoot the victim the next day.

Following the attack, witnesses and members of the boy’s family had rushed to the scene and tried administer first aid.

"People ran to get towels to stem the bleeding," said Miss Karmy-Jones.

The accused is said to have planned the alleged attack for a year (Image: Archant)

She said that when the victim’s mother saw the defendant and asked him what he’d done, he’d lifted up the gun to show it to her and had a “smug and righteous” look on his face.

A 12-year-old girl, who was also on her way to school, saw the teenager pointing a gun at the boy as she walked past.

She heard the gunshot and turned around to see a wound to the victim's face and neck, the court heard.

The teenager stood there with the shotgun and told her to run, Miss Karmy-Jones said.

A man also looked out of his window upon hearing the bang and saw the teenager standing there with the gun, the court heard.

The teenager then pointed the shotgun at him, and was described as being "calm and cool" and never rushed.

Other people who witnessed parts of the aftermath described the teenager as having no sense of urgency and "behaving like he had all day".

He had then put the firearm in the boot of the car and had driven away in a “deliberate and non-urgent” manner, the court heard.

Police located the car he had been driving in Ipswich two hours later and had to smash the window to get the teenager out.

A Beretta double-barrelled shotgun was found in the car, along with two boxes of shotgun cartridges.

When the teenager was told he was being arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, he told officers: "I am 100% guilty of that. I've done what I set out to do."

He told officers that he had taken two of his mother’s anti-depressant tablets that morning.

Miss Karmy-Jones said that experts had estimated that the muzzle of the gun was between 0.75 and 1.5m away from the victim’s face when it was fired.

“What does someone intend to do when they point a loaded shotgun at someone’s face? We say it was no joke,” she said.

The trial, which is expected to last until around June 18, continues.