A teen fleeing the scene of a fight told jurors that he replaced his blue hooded jacket with another blue hoodie as he tried to throw police off the scent.
Giving evidence on Tuesday (March 28), ‘Boy Z’ strongly denied being involved in stabbing Danils Bogdancevs in the People’s Park on June 11 last year.
The youth is one of three teenagers accused of the attempted murder and wounding with intent of Mr Bogdancevs in the Banbury park on June 11 last year.
Prosecutors say the alleged victim was left with six stab wounds during the ‘ferocious’ group attack that saw him punched, kicked and stabbed.
Jurors at Oxford Crown Court have already been told that the alleged victim’s blood was found on the left sleeve of the boy’s ‘Norwegian Expedition’ coat. The jacket was said to have been discarded in the wake of the attack.
READ MORE FROM PARK 'STABBING' TRIAL
- Prosecutor says victim was 'gurgling blood'
- Witness thought stabbing was kids 'mucking about'
- Stab accused says he had previously punched victim 'in the face'
Cross-examining the child, who on the day of the attack was wearing a splint on his right wrist after allegedly injuring his hand in a previous fight, prosecutor Mark Trafford KC said: “The reason it had blood on the left sleeve was because your left hand was the better hand that day and you used your left hand to stab Danils when he was on the ground, didn’t you?”
The boy denied it. He also denied claims that one of his co-defendants, who we have named Boy Y, had ‘encouraged’ him, or that he had fled after saying the word ‘cut’ during the attack. And he said he did not remember seeing Boy Y; in fact the teen who claimed to have heard ‘cut’ being said.
Having gone to the park to smoke cannabis with friends on the afternoon of June 11 – a regular activity for the teenager – he fled after seeing co-defendant ‘Boy X’ being put in a headlock by Mr Bogdancevs.
The jury heard he discarded the heavy ‘Norwegian Expedition’ coat to prevent the police from finding him as a witness to what the prosecutor characterised as a ‘bit of a headlock’.
Prosecutor Mr Trafford, who opened the Crown’s case on the basis that Boy Z was called to the park by ‘ringleader’ Boy X, asked: “What did you put on instead of a dark blue hooded jacket?”
Boy Z replied: “My hoodie.”
“Which is what colour?”
“Dark blue,” the boy answered.
Perplexed, Mr Trafford pondered: “You thought the best way to disguise yourself was to replace a dark blue hooded jacket with a dark blue hooded jacket. Is that right?”
“Yeah,” came the response.
Later, the prosecutor ran through the items of clothing worn by Boy Z on the day of the attack that had not been recovered by the police: a bandana, the dark blue hooded top, a wrist support given to him at the hospital and his trainers.
“The reason those aren’t here is that they were disposed of, weren’t they?” the prosecutor said. Boy Z replied: “Not by me and I don’t know if they were disposed of at all.”
READ MORE FROM PARK 'STABBING' TRIAL
- Prosecutor says victim was 'gurgling blood'
- Witness thought stabbing was kids 'mucking about'
- Stab accused says he had previously punched victim 'in the face'
By the time of his arrest on June 12, a police mugshot showed him without the braids he could be seen wearing in CCTV the previous day, Mr Trafford noted.
The trial continues.
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