Arsenal of weapons shown in court as three men on trial over Derby Kabaddi violence

A huge number of weapons including swords, axes, bats, hockey sticks, knives and two handguns were shown to the jury as three men are on trial charged with violent disorder.

It comes as two rival groups caused "serious disturbance" among hundreds of people watching a kabaddi tournament in Alvaston last year.

The three men in the dock are Melkeet Singh, 34, of Osmaston Road, Derby; a man whose address was given as "West Midlands"; and Malkeet Singh, 23, of Grindleford Road, Birmingham.

The West Midlands man and Melkeet Singh are also charged with possessing firearms and offensive weapons, respectively.

They have pleaded not guilty to all charges. But the jury was told that four other men have already pleaded guilty to their part in the incident, which took place on the afternoon of Sunday 20 August, but who are yet to be sentenced.

Opening the trial for the prosecution, Samuel Skinner said people had gathered to watch the tournament in a field off Elvaston Lane.

Footage of the area shown to the jury showed large crowds gathered around the event ring.

Mr Skinner said: "At around 4pm, police began to receive calls from spectators that a serious disturbance was taking place and shots had been fired.

"Two groups of men posing as spectators were intent on committing serious violence and had firearms, knives, swords and bats and were wearing face masks and scarves around their faces.

"There were repeated firearms discharges, which can be heard on footage taken by people on their mobiles, and spectators can be seen running for cover. The two groups shot at each other and it was lucky no one was killed."

Mr Skinner said that some of the men in each group sustained injuries, including a skull fracture, lacerations and gunshot wounds.

He said: "Initially, it was not clear to the police who was the victim and who was the perpetrator. It was a confusing situation and statements were taken and weapons recovered."

The jury was shown more than 20 weapons that were recovered and were allowed to handle some of them including the two guns.

They heard that surgeons removed a bullet from the West Midlands man's leg. More video was shown which, according to Mr Skinner, showed Melkeet Singh wielding a bat in each hand. One of the men who has already pleaded guilty, Karamjit Singh, from Sinfin, was hit in the groin by a bullet.

Mr Skinner told the jury that Malkeet Singh and Melkeet Singh, together with others, were in group A and the West Midlands man was in group B with other men.

A semi-automatic gun was found in a bag in a gap in the hedge which had the West Midlands man's DNA on the zip and on the muzzle. Group B met before the event at a community centre in Brunswick Street, Derby, and footage of that meeting was also shown to the jury.

Before the jury retired at the end of the first day, a written statement by Maninder Singh Purewal, who owns the field where the tournament was taking place for the first time, was read out.

It said that he was approached about the tournament about two or three months before it took place.

Mr Purewal said: "I let them use it free of charge. I was present at the event and heard four or five gunshots and people panicked. I saw someone on the ground being hit with sticks and machetes and the whole last about 10 to 12 minutes."The trial continues.

What is Kabaddi?

Kabaddi is a team contact sport, usually played by members of seven people.

Also known as Kaudi, the objective of the game is for a single player, named the "raider", to lead the offence by running into the opposing team's half of the court.Their goal is to "touch out" as many of their players and return to their own team’s half of the court, all without being tackled by the defenders on the other team in 30 seconds.

Each team will score points for every player tagged by the raider, while the opposing team earns a point for stopping the raider.

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