A vicious baseball bat attack on the Cooper twins left blood on the floor and walls of the room where they were assaulted, their murder trial heard yesterday.

A witness told the court he was in the room and heard a "tinging" sound from the aluminium weapon as Kenneth Burgess lashed out and blows rained down on Jahmil and Jahmal Cooper.

Devario Whitter said Burgess had already punched Jahmil in the face, knocking him unconscious, before he turned his attention to Jahmal, whom the defendant accused of robbing his father.

Mr. Whitter, a cousin of the twins, said Burgess punched Jahmal in the face a couple of times. And he told the jury that the defendant ? over six feet tall and "built like an American footballer" ? then pulled an aluminium bat out from a pile of junk in the downstairs apartment the twins had been driven to after visiting an illegal gambling den on Elliott Street.

The witness said Burgess hit Jahmal in the head a couple of times and also delivered hard blows to his arms and legs. He added that the twin was crouched down and had his back against the wall during the attack. His hands covered his head in a desperate attempt to protect himself.

Crown counsel Paula Tyndale asked what kind of injuries Jahmal suffered. Mr. Whitter said he saw blood coming from the 20-year-old's nose, mouth and cheek. He also had a couple of splits to his head.

"When you saw the blood, was he still being hit," asked Ms Tyndale.

"Yes," replied the witness, currently in prison for unpaid fines.

The court heard how a drunken Jahmil later opened his eyes, but was then hit a couple of times on his legs with the bat.

Mr. Whitter, 22, said there was blood on the floor of the apartment and on two of the walls in the Crown Hill Lane building, owned by Burgess.

He said the walls looked like they had just been plastered and there was dry sand on the floor. The witness was yesterday shown video footage of the scene and said that a section of wall had been sponged over since he was in the building.

He told the court he was too scared to intervene when the beating was taking place. And Mr. Whitter said he could not remember some parts of the night because he was so shocked.

He said he and the twins, along with three other men, had been taken from the gambling den to the Crown Hill Lane property in two vehicles driven by Burgess and co-accused Dennis Alma Robinson. Mr. Whitter said he thought they were going to the former Ambassadors club.

He told the jury the group had been invited into the downstairs apartment for a drink, and were not expecting the violence that followed.

After the beating he testified Robinson, whom he said had been stood by the door of the apartment, gave him and two other men a lift to Ambassadors.

Mr. Whitter said he did not see the twins alive again after he left the house.

During cross-examination, Courtenay Griffiths QC, for Burgess, asked the witness why he did not intervene and stop the alleged attack and pointed out that five of Mr. Whitter's friends ? including the twins ? were in the apartment at the time.

Mr. Griffiths also asked why somebody who knew the twins for 12 years and who was related to the brothers waited three days before speaking to the Police about the incident.

Mr. Whitter also said he had no knowledge of the twins "terrorising" people and said he knew of no bad feeling between them and Burgess. The barrister also questioned why the witness would witness his twin cousins getting viciously assaulted ? and then go to a nightclub.

He added: "You did not see Mr. Burgess beating anyone with a baseball bat that night did you, because he was not in that apartment with you at all."

Mr. Griffiths said Burgess had dropped the witness and his friends off at Fat Man's Cafe, near the Crown Hill Lane property in Devonshire. Mr. Whitter, however, maintained he saw Burgess beat the twins and denied his evidence was a "pack of lies".

John Perry QC, for Robinson, said that, according to Mr. Whitter's version of events, nobody helped or encouraged Burgess in the attack. The witness agreed.

The court heard Mr. Whitter had previous convictions for cocaine possession, stealing from and assaulting a woman, possession of a machete and resisting and assaulting a Police officer.

Earlier, Mr. Perry asked the previous witness Mr. Gladwyn Cann, who said he was in the property at the start of the attack, whether he had any idea violence was going to be used against the twins.

"It came completely out of the blue, didn't it? " said Mr. Perry.

"Yes," replied Mr. Cann.

Mr. Cann later told prosecutors he would have been "dealt with" if he tried to stop Burgess beating the twins. That was why he did not intervene.

He also explained why he did not call the twins' brother, Rashad, or Police after fleeing Crown Hill Lane. "I was not thinking of calling the Police at that time," he added. "I did not think it was as serious as it turned out to be."

Burgess, 33, of Cottage Hill Road, Hamilton Parish, and Robinson, 34, of Palm Valley, Southampton, deny murdering the twins on March 13, last year.

The trial, expected to last four weeks, continues.