A boy said a robber threatened to ‘back out the shank’ and stab him in the chest unless he hand-over his Huawei mobile phone.

Prosecutors say the boy, then 14, was robbed by a gang of youths in Oxford city centre on July 5, 2020, two days after they targeted a different boy for his iPhone.

The now 17-year-old alleged victim, who gave evidence from behind a screen at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday (September 12) and who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told jurors that he was approached by a group on Queen Street asking if he ‘smoked weed’ and ‘if I had any for them’.

The three boys were strangers to him, he said. One of the group, a younger boy estimated to be around 5ft tall, was said to have told the complainant: “I can see your phone in your pocket. Give it to me.”

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The alleged robber, who is still 17, but was 14 at the time, and can only be identified as Youth A, was said to waved the threat of a knife as if to reinforce his demand for the phone.

“I’ll back out the shank. Give me your phone now. I’ll shank you,” the boy was said to have told the complainant. He said to his friend ‘pass me the shank’ and put his hand behind his back as if reaching for a knife, it was said.

He was said to have pushed the alleged victim against a wall, although he later suggested he ‘maybe, possibly’ was not pushed, and threatened to stab the boy in the chest.

The complainant said he was ‘quite terrified’ and handed over the phone, a Huawei P30 Lite.

Cross-examining the alleged victim, counsel for Youth A, Andrew Judge, put it to him that his client had made no threats, made no reference to a shank and did not suggest he was going to use a ‘shank’ or knife.

“He did,” the boy responded as each claim was put to him.

Youth A, of north west London, denies two counts of robbery and an attempted robbery. Two other defendants, Aaron Clarke, now 20, of Dene Road, Oxford, and Hayden Field, 18, of no fixed address, deny robbery.

The trial continues.