THE mother of a man accused of murder appeared as a prosecution witness to tell a jury her son told her he had "done something stupid”.
Conlan Dunnion, Euan Peters, and Perrie Dunwell are accused of killing drug dealer Shafiul Islam, aged 22, at his Newport flat in November 2019.
The trio are on trial for committing murder in the city’s Tewkesbury Walk which they deny.
Peters, 42, from Dros-y-Morfa, Rumney, Cardiff, has admitted conspiracy to rob Mr Islam who was known by his nickname ‘Chilly’.
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Dunnion, 23, of Maesglas Avenue, Maesglas, Newport, and Perrie Dunwell, 33, of Cold Mill Road, Newport, have both pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to rob.
Dunnion's mother Lucy Pyle gave evidence at the trial about telephone conversations involving her son following the alleged fatal attack.
She told Newport Crown Court her son had called her and appeared "drunk".
The witness said: "He said he had done something stupid and got involved in something. He said, 'I am the one that had to fit him up'."
Later, the witness said Dunnion talking on the phone and sent a WhatsApp message to her partner Daniel Fallon.
The jury heard it said: “Well I don’t know what’s happened but I can hear him on the phone in his bedroom saying about whatever’s gone on about this Chilly.
“And he was saying last night that he was the one who set it up. He said I had to set it up.
“And I’ve just heard him on the phone now saying, ‘F****** hell if he dies like, we’re looking at murder.
“I’m the one that f****** set it all up so that they can go in there.”
Prosecutor Mark Wyeth QC has claimed “enforcer” Peters used a Kopparberg cider bottle to repeatedly hit Mr Islam over the head with on November 14, 2019.
He suffered a "devastating brain injury" and died six days later at Newport’s Royal Gwent Hospital, the court was told.
It is alleged Dunwell drove Peters to the scene and arranged for Dunnion to open the communal door so that a robbery could be carried out.
The trial before Mrs Justice Jefford continues.
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