Kesgrave schoolboy shooting trial: Accused looked calm, says witness

The shooting took place as the victim left his home on the first day of the new school year

A teenager accused of shooting a boy in the face as he walked to school looked "very calm, very cool, very collected" after the gun fired, a court heard.

The 16-year-old, who cannot be named due to his age, is on trial after another boy, then aged 15, was wounded in Kesgrave, Suffolk, on 7 September.

Witness Tracey Howard told jurors she heard a loud noise and saw a boy with a "big gun, a rifle in his hand".

The defendant denies attempted murder and four other charges.

The Ipswich Crown Court trial has heard the victim and the accused were believed to be friends at the time of the incident.

The victim was airlifted to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, where he was left with "devastating and life-changing injuries" after suffering a stroke and has been "partially paralysed", the jury was told.

The court was told the defendant held the gun less than a metre from the victim "before he blasted him in the neck and face"

Giving evidence, Mrs Howard said she was "expecting to see a car accident" after hearing a loud noise.

She said she saw a boy by a car "just stood there, no urgency at all, he had a big gun, a rifle in his hand" and that she "couldn't believe someone had a gun".

Asked by prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones QC how the boy was behaving, Mrs Howard said: "He looked very calm, very cool, very collected.

"He didn't seem to have any urgency about him.

"I thought if someone had just shot a gun they would have chucked the gun into the car and driven off at high speed but he didn't, he just stood there and I was shocked."

She said she saw the boy put the gun into the car and believed he put it into the boot.

Asked when she saw the injured boy in the road, she said: "I went out into the road and the other car had gone.

"I heard some screaming.

"It went calm then there was more shouting and screaming."

The trial continues.