Friend breaks down during Lawrence trial

Duwayne Brooks, 37 (pictured left), described the confused and fatally wounded Stephen Lawrence asking him what was wrong in his last few minutes.

Stephen Lawrence died in 1993 in Eltham, south east London, when he and Mr Brooks were set upon by a gang of white attackers. Mr Brooks was speaking at the trial of Gary Dobson, 36, and David Norris, 35, both of south London, who both deny murdering Mr Lawrence.

Mr Brooks, who gave evidence despite the death of his father last night, told the court: “He jumps up and for a second I was relieved that nothing had happened and we ran up the road and we were running and he kept asking me to tell him what was wrong because he can’t run properly.

“Blood was streaming out around his neck and through his jacket.”

As Mr Brooks began to cry as he remembered the attack, prosecutor Mark Ellison QC asked if he wanted to move through this part of the testimony quickly.

“No, I want to say,” replied Mr Brooks.

‘I was frightened’

He went on: “He kept saying to me what happened to him, why was he running like that. Look at him, like I must tell him what’s happened. Then we were running. I was frightened that … the other guys would come back round.”

It was too distressing, it was too scary to remember and it was very upsetting. Duwayne Brooks

The court heard that Mr Lawrence was stabbed and hit with a metal bar by his attackers.

Mr Brooks told the jury: “When I looked back I saw, at that moment in time, I don’t know if you could call him the leader, but the guy who had the weapon, ran straight into him and, wham, just like that.”

Mr Brooks said he had suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after seeing his best friend killed. His original statement on the night of the murder made no mention of the man with a metal bar, but was included in a later account, the court heard.

In cross-examination, Mr Brooks said he had remembered extra details of the attack months afterwards.

He said: “I made a statement some months after when I began to remember other parts of the incident which for some reason I couldn’t remember because it was too distressing, it was too scary to remember and it was very upsetting.”

As Mr Brooks looked at a picture of the scene and recalled how he tried to get passers-by to help save Mr Lawrence’s life, he sobbed and described his friend’s dying words to him.

“He said one more time ‘Duwayne’, and his voice was funny and he fell at that tree.”

Other witnesses

The court also heard statements from Conor and Louise Taaffe, who prayed over Mr Lawrence as he died, as well as James Geddis, an off-duty police officer who was on the scene. Both said Mr Brooks appeared very agitated on the night of the attack.

PC Linda Bethel, one of the first officers on the scene, was a live witness at court. She said that on the night of the attack, Mr Brooks was unable to describe the attackers and said he had not seen the assault.

Pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd also gave evidence. He said Mr Lawrence bled to death after his arteries were severed by stab wounds to the right an left shoulder, and the fact he ran 220 yards before collapsing was consistent with the injuries.