'We didn't drag Ricky from rooftop - he fell down all by himself' Pair deny using 'the boys' in row.TWO developers accused of dragging a protester from the rooftop of a house they bought at auction have both told a jury he fell down by himself. Irish dairy farmer George Beatty, 56, and businessman Ernest Wray, 57, paid pounds 92,000 for the property at Raldan Close, Barry in the spring of 2007. But they said they hadn't known former owner Ricky Canty, 59, had been living in a makeshift shelter on its roof since April 2006 in a dispute over ownership. He was temporarily off the roof and in jail for contempt of court when they spent pounds 30,000 on renovations - but returned, they told Cardiff Crown Court Cardiff Crown Court is a historic building situated in Cardiff's Civic Centre, Cathays Park. , just as they were putting it up for sale. Wray said: "When we first went there we saw his placards, but he wasn't there. He came the day we had finished and told us he would go back up on the roof after we'd gone. "The next day, he was back up there. "We couldn't sell it then so we instructed letting agents. "But I was told that every time somebody turned up they had abuse shouted at them". They both deny causing Mr Canty actual bodily harm The medical idea of (grievous) bodily harm is more specific than legal ideas of assault or violence in general, and distinct from property damage. It refers to lasting harm done to the body, human or otherwise, although in its legal sense it is exclusively defined as lasting and falsely imprisoning him. Prosecutors in the trial allege the two enlisted others to break through the roof from the inside to physically re-movMr Canty. Two Swalec salesmen passing just as it was getting dark on October 13 last year said they saw figures on the roof and one saw man was being punched. Mr Canty alleges he was beaten before being thrown down into the attic and through a ceiling to a bedroom below, where he claims Beatty and Wray trussed him, tying his ankles and wrists together behind his back. Both men admit they had tied him, using plastic cable ties and rope, but deny using others to get him down. Wray said police had agreed to scaffolding being erected that day so that Mr Canty's long protest could be brought to an end, and they had organised a builder for a further pounds 14,000 repair job the next day - but police changed their minds. Prosecutor David Elias alleged: "You were desperate to get him down - the builder was booked - and you got 'the boys' to do it." Wray told him: "There were no 'boys'... no-one else. We were in the house alone when we heard a thud 1. thud - Yet another metasyntactic variable (see foo). It is reported that at CMU from the mid-1970s the canonical series of these was "foo", "bar", "thud", "blat". 2. thud - Rare term for the hash character, "#" (ASCII 35). See ASCII for other synonyms. , went up and found a pair of legs sticking out Adj. 1. sticking out - extending out above or beyond a surface or boundary; "the jutting limb of a tree"; "massive projected buttresses"; "his protruding ribs"; "a pile of boards sticking over the end of his truck" through the ceiling. "We pulled him down but he had a piece of wood with him and tried to hit us. We had to get something to tie him with, to save ourselves." He said he didn't know how Mr Canty received facial injuries facial injuries, n.pl trauma to the face and its associated structures, most frequently from traffic accidents, contact sports, and domestic conflicts. - he hadn't hurt him - but Beatty "might have hit him once" to subdue sub·due tr.v. sub·dued, sub·du·ing, sub·dues 1. To conquer and subjugate; vanquish. See Synonyms at defeat. 2. To quiet or bring under control by physical force or persuasion; make tractable. 3. him. He denied a suggestion they delayed calling the police to let 'the boys who had bundled him off the roof' get away. "No, definitely not," he said. "We just had to secure him first, before telephoning." The trial will continue after the Bank Holiday weekend. CAPTION(S): Protester Ricky Canty had lived on the roof |
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