Jurors in the trial of a man accused of being an accomplice in a shootout with the police today heard how a machine-gun used in the shooting had jammed, and how the police were warned that should they storm the house where two men and two women were holding out, it would be blown up.
Pace - who is himself awaiting trial - used a sawn-off shotgun and a machine-gun, but according to a police statement given by one of the women, the machine gun jammed after a few rounds.
The police had phoned Pace and tried to persuade him to surrender. He refused and repeatedly swore at the police. He also claimed there were eight people in the house; that he had Aids, and that he would blow up the house, using gas, should the police try to get in.
He also said it made no difference to him whether he was alive or dead.
The police eventually ended the standoff with teargas, but such was the amount of tear gas in the air that an inquiry could not even take place on the morrow.