'There were gun shots. I ducked, started the car and drove away' - Court

THE sister of a man accused of being a murderer's getaway driver told a jury she met him in Bristol on the night of a fatal shooting.

Princess Adams told Bristol Crown Court she drove two friends and two nieces from London to attend after parties following the St Paul's Carnival in July, 2011.

She said she met her brother Tafari, and they went to the busy Coach House pub where she saw two men having a confrontation and she was wary it would escalate.

Shortly after, she said, she and her friends were at her parked Audi car in Stapleton Road when two gunman appeared and gunshots rang out.

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She drove off, but then they received a telephone call and were told Rico Gordon had been shot.

Londoners Shakah Anderson and Rickel Adams were both convicted of the killing and jailed for life following a trial last year.

Now three London men said to have tried to help them evade justice are on trial.

Sean Youngsam, 26, and Courtney Ellis, 28, deny assisting Anderson to leave Bristol an hour after the shooting in July 2011. Tafari Adams, 29, who is Rickel Adams' uncle, denies assisting Adams to get out of town immediately.

A court order has been made banning the addresses of the accused from being published.

Ms Adams told the court she drove her friend Lisa, two nieces and a fifth woman from London to Bristol that night and met her brother Tafari at a disused petrol station.

She said Rico Gordon was there, he was happy and asking if someone could drop him back to his girlfriend's house later.

She told the court: "My brother was there and I must have said hello. He wanted to go to a party and we drove to the pub."

Ms Adams said she parked the Audi opposite the Coach House pub and they went inside. She said: "It was busy, there was a lot of people in there. It was loud, they were playing loud music. I saw my brother Tafari, Rico and everyone who was in my car."

Ms Adams said there was a party in the back room of the pub, and she thought she heard an argument between two black men, with one of them saying, "anything, anything".

She told the court: "It was more than just an argument. It wasn't just a little dispute. I took it to mean 'this is war'."

The jury heard how the lights came on and the party was over, with one of the men in the argument leaving through the fire exit and the other via the front door.

Ms Adams said she and her group returned to the Audi, she turned it round and parked it further down Stapleton Road, where she saw her brother Tafari and Rico Adams near the railway bridge

"I said something along the lines that I wanted to go home in case these guys came back with their AKs", she said. "I just know an argument can stem to something else. I don't want to dwell on race, but it is especially with black men."

Moments later, she said, two gunmen appeared and there was the sound of gunfire. She told how she ducked down, started her car and stalled it, but then drove from the scene.

Shortly after her friend Lisa received a call from someone saying Rico Gordon was shot. They returned to the scene and found Mr Gordon face down on the ground.

The case continues.