An invalid Australian musician was kicked and batt

An invalid Australian musician was kicked and battered to
death with a crowbar because a young burglar wanted his hi-fi
equipment, an Old Bailey jury was told today (Mon).

Daniel Sowrey, 21, fled, covered in his victim’s blood, but
empty handed, said Mr Victor Temple, prosecuting.

‘I struck him with the crowbar because he kept looking at me,’
he later told police as he confessed to the killing.

In the dock jobless Sowrey, who left his hometown of Leeds
to come and live in London just a month before the incident, admits
manslaughter, but denies murder.

Tragic Rodney Slater, 42, whose estranged girlfriend and their
two children live in his native Sydney, was rushed to hospital
minutes after the savage attack and after being found bleeding and
dazed by neighbours.

He died soon afterwards in spite of all attempts to revive
him by medical staff at the nearby Brook Hospital.

Sowrey was arrested after his burglary accomplice, Phillip
Wilcox, who kept watch outside Mr Slater’s flat, told police
of his involvement in the killing, said counsel.

Wilcox’s sister lived in the same block as the victim, the
court heard.

Sowrey expressed immediate remorse for what had happened and
allegedly said: ‘I stood on him to keep him from moving.

I hit him
with the bar about seven to ten times.

It was a lot because there
was a lot of blood involved.

‘
An imprint of Sowrey’s trainer shoe was ‘vividly’ visible on
the dead man’s face, said counsel.

He also suffered two fractures
of the skull and multiple lacerations.

Mr Slater, of John Wilson Street, Woolwich, se London, had
been confined to a wheelchair or bed because of hepatitis, which he
contracted in Thailand.

It left him with chronic liver disease
and had prevented him from continuing his career as a musician.

‘To all intents and purposes he was an invalid.

He had very
limited mobility.

He spent much of his time bedridden or in a
wheel-chair,’ said Mr Temple.

His neighbours helped out with the shopping and kept him
company.

‘He encouraged people to visit him.

As a result a number of
local residents became aware he had a considerable amount of
electrical equipment at his flat.

‘
On September 15 unsuspecting Mr Slater let his killer into
his home after Sowrey told him he was looking for eye-witnesses
to a car accident which had happened outside the ground floor flat,
said Mr Temple.

The ‘subterfuge’ worked and once inside, Sowrey pulled out
the crowbar and hit his victim over the head.

‘This initial blow did not render him unconscious and he
struggled and shouted in an effort to summon assistance and help.

‘And instead of leaving this defendant remained in the
flat and he then launched a savage attack on a near defenceless
man.

He struck further blows on his head and body using the
crowbar and his hands and feet.

‘At some stage he tied Mr Slater’s hands together with a
TV flex.

That having been done he left the flat taking nothing,’
counsel told the jury.

Just before 7pm Mr Slater was discovered outside his flat
in his pyjamas.

He had extensive injuries to his head.

He was
covered in blood.

He said he had been attacked.

He was clearly
disorientated.

He was rushed to hospital but died in the early hours of
the following morning.

A post mortem gave the cause as shock and bleeding due
to injuries to the head and body.

‘His liver disease aggravated the injuries by emphasing
internal bleeding.

Mr Slater’s skull was also thinner than
average, although substantial force would have been required
to cause the two skull fractures,’ said Mr Temple.

Sowrey was arrested after Wilcox, with whom he had plotted
to burgle Mr Slater’s home, called out to police from the window
of his sister’s flat above the dead man’s address.

Shortly after that detectives went to Sowrey’s bedsit in
Fearon Street, Greenwich, se London.

Wilcox had a bedsit in the
same house and they became friends after Sowrey moved in.

At once Sowrey admitted killing Mr Slater.

He handed over the crowbar and his bloodstained clothes.

He went on to describe how he hit Mr Slater with the crowbar
and then tied his hands.

Afterwards he looked round the flat
to see what was worth stealing.

But when he returned to the living room he found Mr Slater
had struggled to his patio and was halfway through the open door
calling for help.

Sowrey dragged his victim back into the flat.

‘I stood
on him to keep him from moving.

I hit him with the bar about
7-10 times.

It was a lot because there was a lot of blood
involved,’ said Sowrey.

Interviewed later he repeated his account and expressed
his remorse for the death.

He said Wilcox had told him about some ‘good quality
electrical equipment’ in Mr Slater’s flat and that Mr Slater
was ‘weak and unlikely to provide much resistance,’ said counsel.

‘They were unemployed and short of money and so planned
the burglary.

They discussed it in the local pub.

They discussed
hitting the victim twice which would render him unconscious
enabling them to remove his property easily.

‘
Wilcox did not have a balaclava and might be recognised
by the victim so his job was to wait outside and then help
remove the stolen property.

‘Sowrey struck the deceased with the crowbar because he
kept looking at him.

He later said he hit him because he would
otherwise not be able to steal the property,’ said counsel.

Sowrey agreed he had first hit Mr Slater when he was
sitting down.

Afterwards he found his victim had got to the patio.

He described how he then kicked, punched and hit Mr
Slater with the crowbar and said he did it ‘because he felt
in a bad mood’ with his victim.

‘He further admitted treading on the deceased man’s
face – this occurred whilst he was trying to restrain him,
whilst he tied him up with a flex.

‘He was particularly asked about standing, or kicking
the victim because there was vivid pattern from a trainer on
the dead man’s cheek,’ said Mr Temple.

Sowrey said he was deeply upset that Mr Slater had
died.

‘I would just like to say I am sorry about it.

I
deeply regret him dying.

I just wish it had never happened.

‘
Sowrey, a former pupil at Priestthorpe High School,
Farsley, W.

Yorkshire, the jury were told, has admitted conspiring
with Wilcox, to burgle Mr Slater’s flat.

The trial, which is expected to end on Thursday,
continues.

ENDS