Rhys Jones _200
THE distraught mother of Rhys Jones fled court in tears yesterday, unable to watch the moment her young son was gunned down as an innocent victim of Liverpool’s violent gang warfare.
Dressed entirely in bright purple – the colour which has come to symbolise Liverpool’s fight against gun crime – Rhys’s weeping mother, Melanie, fled court 3.2 at the city’s Queen Elizabeth II courts, just before the three-second clip of her son being killed was shown.
Her husband, Stephen, remained in court and stared intent- ly as the footage of a bullet striking his youngest son’s neck was played. The 11-year-old had been walk- ing home from football practice when he stop- ped at the sound of a bullet smashing into the window of a nearby BMW and into a con-tainer outside Crox- teth’s Fir Tree pub.
Neil Flewitt, QC, prosecuting, described how the passionate Everton fan turned at the sound and was “literally walking into the line of fire”.
Jurors gasped as they watched the small figure collapse to the ground. He later died in his mother’s arms.
The teenager alleged to have murdered the youngster shook his head as he watched the schoolboy’s final moments.
Alleged Croxteth Crew gang member Sean Mercer stands accused of murdering Rhys as he strayed into the feud between rival gangs. He is defended by Richard Pratt, QC.
The 18-year-old, of Good Shepherd Close, has pleaded not guilty to the August 22 shooting, while six others deny helping him cover his tracks.
Mr Flewitt said: “The gunman fired a total of three shots across the car park.
“One of those shots hit Rhys Jones in the neck and killed him.
“It is the prosecution case that the defendant, Sean Mercer, was the person who fired that fatal shot, and he, therefore, is guilty of the offence of murder.”
The jury was told Mercer fired three shots at rival gang mem- bers from Norris Green’s Strand Gang who had strayed into “enemy” territory. Mr Flewitt said: “Rhys Jones was not Sean Mercer’s intended victim.
“On the contrary, it the prosecution case that he was the innocent victim of a long-running feud between rival gangs operating in and around the area of the Fir Tree public house.”
He added that the shooting was “yet another, and even more tragic, example of the mindless and indiscriminate violence that is a feature between the Croxteth Crew and the Strand Gang”.
