Shirtless DJ slashed in nose by Oxford man in Audi chase

Lew Odigie, 33, was under investigation at the time for driving an Audi A3 at high speed through Oxford city centre during the third national lockdown when he carried out the knife attack last May.

On Monday (August 7), Oxford Crown Court heard that the victim had finished his shift DJing at Cowley Road cocktail bar Café Baba in the early hours of May 29 when he went to a female friend’s home.

He was lying on a bed without his t-shirt on, when Odigie burst in and asked what the man was doing. He returned from the kitchen armed with a 20cm blade then started shouting at the DJ, who tried to flee the house.

He eventually managed to run from the house but not before suffering slash wounds to his nose, shoulder and his back. He got himself to hospital, where the wounds were sutured.

The victim had withdrawn his support for the prosecution, the court was told.

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Prosecuting, Mike Hollis said that Odigie also had to be sentenced for a dangerous driving matter dating back to February 2021.

In the early hours, Odigie had turned his Audi A3 around after seeing police officers on St Aldates then sped off down the High Street. He hit 50mph as he crossed Magdalen Bridge then pushed the hatchback to 60mph on St Clements.

The chase passed through Headington onto the Northern Bypass, before the Audi turned into Summertown.

Odigie circled back towards Headington on the Marston Ferry Road, with the pursuit eventually coming to a halt in Wood Farm.

Some four days after the police chase, he was in front of the magistrates when he was convicted of careless driving and failing to provide a specimen of breath.

Odigie, formerly of Abingdon Road, Oxford, admitted dangerous driving, possession of cannabis and causing grievous bodily harm. He had 28 previous convictions for 67 offences.

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Mitigating, Lucy Tapper said her client had been ‘engaged by somebody else’ to go to the woman’s house, where he found the DJ upon the duvet. She said Odigie was using the knife to ‘threaten’ the other man.

Judge Nigel Daly jailed him for a total of 32 months and imposed a two year driving ban, which is expected to start on the defendant’s release from custody.

Sentencing, he accepted that the dangerous driving was committed in the early hours during a national lockdown.

But he observed that the chase went down residential streets, where ‘anything could have come out’ from between parked cars.

Judge Daly said: “Unlikely to be a child at that time of night, but you never know.”

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