A grandmother has spoken of her terror after a gunman opened fire on her home in broad daylight, shattering the front window and hitting the front door.
Ross Pate, 41, and two accomplices, Jason Charnley, 36, and Richard Powell, 40, were part of a ‘vendetta’ with the victim’s son when they carried out the attack.
The victim, who was alone in the property at the time, was sleeping in her bedroom when the shots were fired. She only realized the enormity of what had happened afterward and said she was left in shock and terrified.
Prosecuting, Mark Kellet said: “Ross Pate was the gunman, he had attended with the two defendants. The reason for the discharge of the firearm was that a grievance between Mr Pate and her son had taken place at some point earlier.”
Fired a Shotgun into Her Home after He Had Become Embroiled in a ‘Vendetta’ with Her Son.
The court heard that the gun has not been recovered.
“When I think about it, this really frightens me,” the victim said.
She told of the emotional toll of her ordeal in her statement, adding: “I just kept crying, it was awful. I couldn’t be on my own and had real difficulty feeling safe wherever I was. I was left unable to sleep.
“The attack on me and my home has changed the way I am. I am now a very nervous person, jumpy, considerably paranoid, and a bit angrier. I no longer feel safe and secure in my home.”
She told how she’d installed a video doorbell camera and more lighting as extra security measures.
She added: “I hope that with time things will get better, but I don’t know if this will happen.”
The trio are due to be sentenced at Manchester Crown Court next week.
Pate, of Newchurch Street, Rochdale; Charnley, of Roch Mills Crescent, Rochdale; and Powell, of Ogden Street, Rochdale; all pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
They went on trial accused of the more serious offense of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life, and were all acquitted.
The trio all have lengthy criminal records, with Pate committing 84 offenses, and 42 offenses and 31 offenses are on Charnley and Powell’s records, respectively.
Adam Roxborough, for Pate, said the shooting was ‘dreamt up in drink at a house gathering’. He said that another reveller had a weapon ‘available’ which was then used in the shooting.
He said that Pate spent ‘a little under two minutes’ checking whether anyone was in the property prior to opening fire. Mr Roxborough said the offense was ‘unsophisticated’, and that it was ‘not planned to any great extent’ adding that Pate is remorseful.
Paul Treble, for Charnley, said: “They clearly didn’t want to injure anyone.” He said their aim was to ‘stop the third party from escalating the vendetta any further’ by ‘saying we have a gun’.
“He certainly regrets what he has done, it’s a very silly, reckless thing to do,” he added.
“It appears to have been a somewhat off-the-cuff decision after drinking alcohol,” Rachel Cooper, for Powell said.
She said Powell acted out of a ‘misguided sense of loyalty and friendship’ and said he now ‘wishes he had made a very different decision’.
Judge Rachel Smith adjourned sentencing until next week., rewrited_content should contains maximum words possible
