Published Wednesday, 20 January 2010
Giving evidence at Belfast Crown Court, Mr Laurence Kelly told the jury he was walking home along the Somerton Road after having a drink in the Lansdowne Hotel when two men walked past him.
Describing how one was shorter than the other, he told prosecuting QC Toby Hedworth the taller of the two ordered his accomplice to "cover your face" as he got closer to them and said the same man told him "we will do you too" as they passed by.
After they had walked past, the taller told the other to "start running," again in an ordering tone, said the firefighter.
He told the jury of eight men and four woman that as they passed by, he could see "two bodies" lying further up the road and he immediately phoned 999 and a doctor friend.
The "bodies" were 15-year-old Thomas Devlin who tragically died as a result of the stab wounds he received and his friend Jonathan McKee who was stabbed in the abdomen and had been beaten about the head with a bat.
Mr Kelly told the jury that while Mr McKee almost immediately "jumped up" when he spoke to him, Thomas did not respond and did not open his eyes.
In the dock denying the murder of Thomas, attempting to murder and cause grievous bodily harm to 22-year-old Mr McKee on August 10, 2005 are north Belfast men 26-year-old Nigel James Brown from the Whitewell Road and Gary Taylor, 23, from Mountcollyer Avenue.
Brown has already pleaded guilty to a single count of trying to cause GBH to Mr McKee.
Under cross examinations from their defence lawyers, Mr Kelly agreed that despite attending six identity parades, he had not been able to pick out either defendant as the attackers.
The trial continues.