Despite the best efforts of passers-by, police and paramedics Joshua Norman could not be saved
Two men have been convicted of killing a father who died after being stabbed in the throat with a broken cider bottle. Despite the best efforts of passers-by, police officers and paramedics Joshua Norman died at the scene of the attack on a Swansea street in September last year.
Uncle and nephew Paul Rosser and Joshua Cullen were charged with the murder of Mr Norman, which they denied. After a two-week trial at Swansea Crown Court 49-year-old Rosser was found guilty of murder and 32-year-old Cullen was found guilty of the lesser alternative charge of manslaughter.
The defendants will be sentenced later this week.
The court had previously heard that Rosser, Mr Norman, and a number of other people spent the night of September 10 last year at Mr Norman’s flat in Matthew Street in Dyfatty, Swansea, smoking crack cocaine and drinking alcohol. The following morning Rosser and Mr Norman went out to “score” more drugs, first stopping to buy alcohol from the CK shop opposite High Street station before walking to the flat in nearby Griffith John Street where the co-defendant Cullen lived with his mother, Rosser’s sister. Rosser said his nephew would have numbers on his phone of people who could supply drugs.
Just after 10am Rosser, Cullen and Mr Norman were picked up in a black Audi car and driven first to Townhill and then to Port Tennant where drugs were purchased. An altercation then developed in the vehicle and all three passengers were told to get out on New Cut Road near Dyfatty junction.
The defendants and Mr Norman then made their way to nearby Upper Strand were a physical altercation took place involving Cullen and Mr Norman.
The three males then made their way through the road tunnel which leads to Cwm Road, and it was in the shadow of the tunnel that the fatal assault took place with Rosser smashing the glass cider bottle he was carrying and thrusting it into the throat of Mr Norman. While it was Rosser who wielded the weapon the prosecution argued it was a “joint enterprise” killing with Cullen “encouraging or assisting” his uncle.
The defendants walked back to Cullen’s nearby flat following the attack leaving Mr Norman bleeding to death in the street. Passers-by rushed to aid the stricken man applying pressure to the wound and performing chest compressions until police and paramedics took over. However Mr Norman could not be saved.
During the trial the jury was shown CCTV evidence of the movements of the three men in the hours and minutes before the fatal incident and of the movements of the defendants in the moments after the incident as they made their way back to the Griffith John Street flats. The fatal attack itself was not caught on camera.
The court also heard toxicology evidence about the drugs found in the systems of the three men and about the defendants’ previous convictions – Rosser has 45 previous convictions for 215 offences including wounding, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, aggravated burglary, and robbery while Cullen has previous convictions for two robberies and for wounding.
Neither defendant gave evidence at the trial. For the latest court reports sign up to our crime newsletter
It was Rosser’s case that Mr Norman became aggressive in the Audi after smoking crack cocaine and headbutted and smashed the car window, leading to them being kicked out. He said the broken bottle subsequently inadvertently made contact with Mr Norman’s neck when Mr Norman grabbed it off him. Cullen too said Mr Norman became aggressive in the car and then assaulted and tried to bully him on Upper Strand. He denied inflicting any injury on Mr Norman.
In his closing speech to the jury Allan Compton KC for Rosser told jurors there were “far too many pieces of the jigsaw missing” for them to be sure of his client’s guilt. He said his client, by his own admission, had been on a four-day “bender” of drink and drugs prior to the incident and said Mr Norman had consumed “prodigious” amounts of alcohol and drugs – including cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, and pregabalin – and said it was not impossible to predict how the “toxic combination of drink and drugs” would have affected him. The barrister asked the jury to consider if it was possible that when Mr Norman saw the broken bottle in Rosser’s hand he, in his “intoxicated and out-of-control state”, did in fact lunge at his client and grab the bottle.
In his closing speech Andrew Jones KC for Cullen told jurors that on the basis of poor-quality CCTV of the parties before the incident and then CCTV and eyewitness accounts of the defendants after the incident the prosecution had drawn a “string of tenuous links” and was then inviting them to “guess” answers to fill in the gaps in the evidence. He said there was no evidence of exactly where his client had been standing when the bottle had been broken, no evidence that he had known what was going to happen, and “not a shred of evidence” of him assisting or encouraging his uncle.
Paul David Rosser, aged 49, of McRitchie Place, Gendros, Swansea, and 32-year-old Joshua Lee Cullen, of Griffith John Street, Dyfatty, Swansea, will be sentenced on Wednesday, June 9.
Speaking after the conviction South Wales Police detective chief inspector Lianne Rees said: “What happened to Joshua Norman on September 11, 2024, was a tragic incident, taking place during broad daylight. This was a thorough and complex investigation, and I’d like to thank the investigation team, CPS and prosecuting Counsel who worked hard to ensure justice was brought.
“I would also like to pay tribute to the passers-by on that day, who stopped to attempt to save Joshua’s life.
“The experience would have been extremely distressing for them. Joshua’s family described him as a beautiful person whose smile and sense of humour would light up any room and any heart. I hope today’s convictions help them to process their loss and find some comfort in what has been an extremely difficult time.”