A knifeman accused of murder said he feared for his life as he stabbed a young man who he claimed was attacking him with a sword.
Salah Adam, 21, died after being knifed to the neck in Old Trafford in May last year. Two other young men, Demari Rose, 20, and Xavaiour Wynter, 21, are both on trial accused of his murder. They deny the charge.
Prosecutors allege that Mr Adam was knifed following a 'heated' dispute about an incident the night before, when about 15 young men including Mr Adam’s younger brother had been arrested on suspicion of affray. Rose admitted inflicting the wound which caused Mr Adam’s fatal injury, in the back garden of a house next door to the Adam family home on Kings Road.
But he denied murder, claiming he had been acting in self-defence after Mr Adam allegedly attacked him with a sword. Rose said that on the day of the incident, May 31 last year, he took a taxi to Wynter’s uncle’s home in Old Trafford. He said they played Fifa on the Playstation and smoked cannabis. Rose said he had known Wynter as they had played in the same football team as boys, and said they had reconnected in the previous few months.
Rose said that prior to taking a taxi to Old Trafford, he had sold a knife to someone. Jurors have heard that he has admitted selling knives over social media, which he described as an 'impulsive' decision which he now regretted. He had originally planned to sell the buyer two blades, but they decided they only wanted one, the jury heard, as Rose gave evidence in court for a second day.
He told jurors that he kept the other blade in his waistband when he travelled to Old Trafford that day. Asked why he did this, by his barrister Siobhan Grey KC, Rose said that he ‘didn’t feel 100 per cent comfortable’ in the area and ‘didn’t feel safe’.
Rose said that after spending about two hours in the property, they both left to purchase cannabis. He said that their journey was ‘interrupted’ after Wynter began speaking to Mr Adam.
“At that time everything I heard was news to me,” he said. “Wynter asked Salah Adam where his younger brother was.”
Rose said he didn’t know anything about the incident the day before, and claimed Mr Adam became ‘frustrated’ and ‘agitated’. The defendant claimed that Mr Adam asked Wynter and himself to ‘come down the alleyway’ and said ‘he would bang us both out’.
“After he said that, I kind of got the impression that he was about to do something,” Rose said. The defendant said he pulled out a sheath containing the knife from his waistband, and said that Mr Adam and the two men he was with ‘scattered’.
Rose said that he and Wynter carried on their journey to purchase some cannabis. But he said that on the way, Wynter approached Modasser Homayoon, a friend of Mr Adam, and began ‘recording’ him on his phone ‘while laughing’.
Rose claimed that Wynter told Mr Homayoon: “Why are you running from me, I’m not even going to do anything to you.” He said that by this point they had arrived in a garden behind houses on Kings Road. The defendant said he heard a sound from behind and saw two men, one armed with a sword and another with a knife.
He said he saw Mr Adam ‘lunge’ towards Wynter and believed his co-defendant been stabbed. Rose claimed that Mr Adam, who he said was armed with a ‘black sword’, then ‘turned his attention’ onto him.
Rose said he tried to reach for the knife in his waistband but it became ‘stuck’ in his clothing. He claimed that Mr Adam began lunging towards him ‘numerous times’, and said he suffered injuries to his hands and wrist. Rose said he pulled out his knife with the intention of making Mr Adam ‘back off’.
“The only thing that was going through my mind was ‘I’m going to die’,” he said. “I was in a lot of pain, there was a lot of adrenaline.”
The defendant said he accepted causing the fatal injury, but cannot recall how it occurred. He said: “Although I can’t remember the actual action that led to it, I do accept that yes.”
Asked how he felt about that, Rose added: “It’s something I think about every day since it happened.” The defendant said he then left the area on foot.
“I was scared for my life at that point,” he told the jury. “I thought the person with the sword could potentially come running after me.” He said he was in ‘excruciating’ pain and went to hospital, where he was told that Mr Adam had died.
Rose, of no fixed address, and Wynter, of no fixed address, both deny murder. Wynter also denies having an article with a blade or point. Jurors have heard that Rose has admitted being in possession of a blade.
Proceeding.
