Gabriel George was called as a witness on Thursday to give evidence in the trial of brothers Carl and Shyheim Little, who each stand accused of specially aggravated intimidation in company. 

Prosecutors allege Shyheim Little armed himself with a hunting knife, while Carl Little used a rifle to shoot Mr George in the thigh. 

The brothers have pleaded not guilty.

Taking the stand via video-link so he did not have to confront his alleged attackers, Mr George described the evening on January 5, 2017 when he was home having dinner with some friends.

“I was having a shower – the next thing I know, [my girlfriend] is coming into the bedroom and she said that there’s people there,” Mr George said.

“I heard a scream, like a howl, and a bang – it was like somebody falling over – so I opened my bedroom door, I looked up the hallway, saw several figures, and the front door was open so I just ran.” 

Mr George said he made it as far as his front gate before he heard someone yell “stop”. He said he then turned around and saw Carl Little holding a rifle.

“I don’t recall the sound of the gun going off, but I heard the ‘tink’ of the fence and then I had a thud in my leg – it felt like a hot cricket ball had hit me – and then I just ran,” he said.

“I knew I’d been hit by something, but I never, ever thought I’d been shot – i just felt something in my leg.”

Mr George said he then ran down the street to hide in a neighbour’s yard before returning to his own home when the intruders had left. 

It was only once his friend saw him that he realised he had been shot.

“He looked at my leg and he said ‘You’ve been shot’, I said ‘No, how could I have been shot’, because it didn’t feel like it, and then he said ‘Look, you’ve been shot by a .22, look at the hole in the fence’,” he said. 

“The bullet’s still in there, but they took a piece of flesh off and the shrapnel from the fence that was embedded.” 

One of Mr George’s guests, Riley Brabander, told the court that banging sound was Shyheim Little punching him in the face.

“I stepped forward and the male who was holding the large, black hunting knife punched me to the left side of the face. I fell over into a speaker. It stunned me,” Mr Brabander read from his police statement.

The trial continues. 

EARLIER IN THE TRIAL: