Teenager describes fatal chip row

May 13 2008 Media Wales

A TEENAGER today described in court how a father repeatedly stabbed his son following a drunken argument over chips.

Hannah Thomas, 19, said she saw Martin Thompson thrust a kitchen knife three times into the stomach and chest of his son Craig during the early hours of November 30 of last year.

Miss Thomas was one of three lodgers staying at Thompson’s home on the Gurnos estate in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, at the time of the incident.

She told Cardiff Crown Court the defendant had to be let into the house on the night of the alleged murder as he had difficulty opening the front door.

When she asked him about a mark he had on his head, she said he replied that he was drunk.

Miss Thomas said she then went upstairs along with her boyfriend Adam Evans, Craig Thompson and Mr Thomson’s former girlfriend, Sara Evans.

A short while later she said she heard Thompson shouting upstairs that someone had stolen his chips.

She said Craig then went downstairs to get some chips out of the freezer for his father and while doing so was asked by his father to cook some food.

The jury of five women and seven men were told Craig replied that he was not his father's "skivvy" before walking back up the stairs to join the others.

Miss Thomas said as Craig was walking up the stairs, his father came out of the kitchen with a knife in his hand and threatened to stab his son.

She said as Thompson started swinging the knife, Craig tried to kick it out of his hand before getting stabbed above the right knee.

“Craig sat down on about the fifth step,” said Miss Thomas.

“Martin pulled the knife out and started to stick the knife in Craig’s chest.”

She added: “He (Craig) was screaming. Craig was trying to push Martin away.

“Adam started running down the stairs and then Martin stuck the knife in Craig’s left leg above the knee.

“Martin stood up and went into the kitchen with the knife in his hand.”

The court heard Mr Evans kicked Thompson in the back which launched him into the kitchen. Mr Evans then threw a microwave oven at him in a bid to get the knife off him.

Miss Thomas said before her boyfriend eventually managed to get the knife from Thompson, Craig stood up and cried: “Dad, please stop it.”

Shortly afterwards he collapsed with blood gushing from his body.

An ambulance was called but Mr Thomson was pronounced dead at the scene.

The court has heard that when police arrived, Thompson said: “It’s my doing, it’s my fault.”

On the way to the police station, he said to the officers: “He was doing my head in. I just went mad. Is he all right? Will you find out if my son’s all right?”.

Prosecutor Ian Murphy QC said Thompson told police he “just lost it” because his son was telling him to go to bed, and that he had been upset about music coming from the lodgers’ rooms.

He told officers: “I just didn’t understand what I had in my hand at the time, because I had been peeling potatoes, and I don’t think I realised I had a knife in my hand.”

Thompson claimed he pushed his son three times, not realising the knife was in his hand, the court heard. Pictures shown to the jury showed chips in a pan, and a bag containing oven chips, but no potato peelings, Mr Murphy said.

The jury heard Thompson and his son became heavy drinkers after the death of his wife Stephanie from septicaemia in 1996. Thompson was approximately four times the drink drive limit at the time of the alleged attack, while his son was five times over the legal limit.

Mr Murphy described the incident as a “violent and unlawful attack carried out with deadly force and intent”.

Thompson, of Lavender Road, Merthyr Tydfil, denies murder.

The trial continues.