Samurai swordsman found not guilty following Braunton incident

A North Devon man has been cleared of wounding two men with a Samurai sword after telling a jury he was defending his home from intruders.

Terry Braund, 45, said the injuries suffered by Dominic O’Brien and Lee Spicer were caused accidentally as they fought for the sword in the doorway of his Braunton home.

Mr Braund told a jury at Exeter Crown Court he unsheathed the four foot long weapon to deter two men from attacking him after they arrived on his doorstep late at night.

The two victims needed hospital treatment for severe cuts to their hands and arms after the struggle in Braund’s flat in Pill Gardens.

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Mr O’Brien, who plays the guitar in a local band, said his musical career had been affected badly by his injuries.

The confrontation followed a neighbour’s row in which Braund had been accused of intimidating Mr O’Brien’s 13-year-old daughter, leading him and Mr Spicer to go to his door.

Braund, who is now living at Forches Road, Barnstaple, denied wounding Mr O’Brien and his friend Lee Spicer and was found not guilty.

During the three day case the victims said they were injured after Braund ran down the stairs at them brandishing the razor-sharp sword at neck height and shouting he ‘I’m going to kill you’.

Police said that when they told him of O’Brien’s injuries he replied: ‘I have stabbed him in the hand and I hope he bleeds to death’.

Braund told the jury he was acting in self defence and feared he was about to be beaten up by the two men who came to his door in an agitated state late at night.

He said: ”The way the men were when they came to my door made me fear for my safety. I stood at the top of the stairs and thought when I showed them the sword they would have gone.

“It did not prove to be a deterrent. They seemed wholly bent on what they had come to do. I was hoping they were both going to back off and leave me alone but it had a completely different effect.

“I stood with the sword over my shoulder and Mr O’Brien grabbed it with both hands and the other man punched me in the face seven or eight times.

“I could not get them off me. I was wrestling with O’Brien and he ended up with the sword but with his arm caught in the hand rail on the stairs.

“Spicer probably got cut when O’Brien had taken the sword from me. I did not notice they were bleeding until I heard my partner screaming and saying we needed an ambulance.

“There was a lot of blood and it was shocking. It was all a bit of a blur but I remember wrestling with the sword and him managing to disarm me.”