A man believed he was “going to die” as he and his brother were savagely attacked at a Fife builders yard, a trial has heard.
Lee Dunsire told jurors he was driven in a van to William Matthew and Son contractors in Kirkcaldy before being hauled out and struck on the head and body with a pick axe shaft.
He said he later discovered his sibling, John Dunsire, had stolen a quad bike from the yard.
Brothers William, 59, and John Matthew, 63, alongside Owen Bonner, 24, and Conner Davies, 27, deny allegations they abducted and assaulted the pair on April 13 2021.
Beaten, kicked and punched
Lee Dunsire, 44, told Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court he and his brother had been picked up by Bonner in a white van outside a job centre in the town that day.
Mr Dunsire said he was then expecting to be taken home but the van went along Denburn Road and into Matthew and Son.
He said: “As we pulled into the yard there was a row of them standing with big sticks and I thought ‘s**t, what’s going on?’
“Before I knew it, I was in the yard and pulled out and being hit over the head with a pick axe shaft.
“I was beaten all around the yard with a pick axe shaft and kicked and punched”.
Mr Dunsire said he saw John and William Matthew “taking turns” to strike him with the weapon and heard them shouting “you have been in my yard” and “stealing out of my yard”.
He said he was kicked and punched “all over the body” and went in and out of consciousness after being struck in the head.
He described the men as “toying” with him by letting him get up before striking him down again.
‘I thought I was going to die’
Mr Dunsire said: “I thought I was going to die in that yard.”
He said he could not see what was happening to his brother but heard him “screaming like he was being attacked”.
He said he only saw Bonner punch his brother in the head while in the van and say to him it was “my f***ing quad bike, what you going to do about it now?”.
Asked by fiscal depute Ronnie Hay how the incident came to an end, Mr Dunsire said one of the Matthew brothers told him to “get away” and they kept screaming they were “going to murder me and I will never be seen again”.
Mr Dunsire, who arrived in court in a wheelchair, confirmed he knows his brother had stolen a quad bike from the yard the night before.
Lee Dunsire’s injuries included a 5cm laceration to the back of the head and surgery was carried out on fractures to the right ankle and left elbow.
He suffers permanent stiffness and pain in the ankle, as well as scarring.
John Dunsire needed surgery for a broken knee cap and breaks to his right thigh bone and forearm.
Identification ‘easy way out’
Defence lawyers pointed out to Dunsire he had previously failed to identify any of the accused from a police video identification parade.
Mr Dunsire claimed he was initially “s**t scared” of what might happen to him and his family but was speaking out now because he “refused to be bullied anymore”.
Defence counsel Jonathan Crowe, representing William Matthew, argued it was because he was “more scared” of the people who really attacked him and easier to blame his client.
Mr Crowe suggested to Mr Dunsire he “buckled” when police came to him saying they had intelligence suggesting the Matthew brothers were responsible and agreeing was the “easy way out”.
The lawyer also suggested to Mr Dunsire he had told his mother he had been attacked by “three boys in a van”, differing from his evidence in court.
Defence lawyer Dewar Spence, representing John Matthew, argued Mr Dunsire would not have been able to get a proper look at his attackers because he was covering himself up for protection.
Mr Spence said his client was not there that day and Mr Dunsire is assuming he was there because it was his yard.
Defence lawyer Kerr Sneddon, representing Bonner, also questioned Mr Dunsire’s recollection of events at the yard and said his client did not attack his brother in the van.
Under questioning from defence lawyer James McMackin, Mr Dunsire said he could not say if Davies had assaulted him, though the court heard he told police a month after the incident he punched him “a couple of times, upper cut style”.
The charges
The four men – all from the Kirkcaldy area – deny abduction and assault.
The charges state they repeatedly punched and kicked the Dunsires in the body and repeatedly struck them in the head and body with pick axe shafts and baseball bats.
It is also said they stood and jumped on John Dunsire’s head and struck him with a metal crutch.
The alleged attack is said to have resulted in severe injury, permanent impairment and disfigurement to both brothers and been to the danger of John Dunsire’s life.
The men are also accused of making threats of violence to the brothers.
The trial, before Sheriff Robert More, continues.
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