Packed court witnesses opening of attempted murder trial of three women shot outside Wolverhampton party
The trial of two men accused of shooting three women in Wolverhampton last year begins.
Wolverhampton Crown Court was packed for the opening of the attempted murder trial.
The families of the three young women peppered with shotgun pellets whilst standing outside a 19th birthday party in Frederick Street in September last year packed the public gallery.
Shaun Andrews, 23, and DeShaun White, 23, are charged with attempted murder and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.
The court heard the three young women had left a party at Jacks Cafe for some air around 11pm on Friday, September 27, when a car drove past and a shotgun was fired at them from the passenger window .
Prosecuting, Sharon Bahia told the jury: "The three girls were stood together, a car pulled up, a lethal weapon was produced, pointed a them and fired. The weapon we know was a shotgun, the injuries were catastrophic.
"All three of them were hit owing to the properties of the firearm. These two defendants were in the car and this trial is all about their knowledge and intentions."
She added: "The prosecution say all those in the car are responsible. Firing a shotgun at a group is obviously endangering the lives of those there, putting those lives at risk.
"We can go further and say anyone could be part of such a thing without intending that life would be lost. When you see their injuries on body mapping and hear agreed medical evidence you may think it was sheer luck any survived.
"We cannot say what the reason was, none of the girls knew the defendants, the incident was over so quickly they could not give descriptions of them or the car."
White, of Westacre Crescent, Wolverhampton, was arrested in October last year and Andrews, of Russell Road, Bilston, was arrested in Manchester in March.
White used his own car for the crime, which police quickly linked to him after finding a traffic violation report made by him, in which he gave his mobile phone number.
When interviewed both Andews and White claim they were in the car but were not the shooter, that was a mystery man called 'Big A' who was picked up before the shooting and dropped off soon after. Both were shocked he fired on the girls.
The jury was shown CCTV footage of the shooting which shows the car slowing down, a shot fired then the vehicle speeding off.
One of the victims was left with 80 pellet marks on her body and metal lodged in her lead and lungs.
Both men deny all charges, the trial continues.
