Boy tells court he feared attack before stabbing

A teenager accused of murder has claimed he stabbed another boy due to a fear he would attack him.

Shayne Hambakachere, 16, from Chippenham in Wiltshire, died in hospital after he was fatally stabbed in January. A 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies murder and is on trial at Bristol Crown Court.

The court previously heard how Hambakachere had visited the accused's house on London Road, Chippenham, to settle a dispute over stolen cannabis. The pair entered a nearby alleyway where Hambakachere - who was unarmed - was stabbed.

The defendant told the jury he brandished a knife because he "felt Shayne was about to attack me" and saw his "hand in his pocket".

"I was terrified because he [Hambakachere] came to my house and I believed he had a weapon," he said earlier.

The pair met in the alleyway to settle an argument over weed the accused boy had allegedly stolen from Hambakachere 12 days before the stabbing.

Sarah Jones, acting for the prosecution, told the unnamed teenager: "You aimed that knife at his heart... he was hurt and he was frightened."

"I wasn't aiming," replied the teenager. "I didn't think I had caused Shayne serious injury."

The boy told the prosecution he was in "a state of shock" when he ran away and hid a knife in an abandoned care home.

"I didn't really know what I was doing," he said.

"After the incident I felt very dizzy and couldn't believe what just happened."

Once home, he had a shower, which the prosecution suggested was to clean away evidence of what had happened.

"Not necessarily," the boy replied.

He admitted he lied to police who arrived later that day, when he claimed he had never been in the alley with Hambakachere and had been at home the entire time.

Jones questioned whether the boy was truly scared of Hambakachere and asked about "provocative" messages shared between the two teenagers.

"It was a game you were playing," she suggested. "You were putting it out [that] you were powerful, important, that you could steal drugs from people.

"You were enjoying the reputation you were developing, weren't you?"

"No," responded the boy. "I had to put on a violent act towards Shayne as he had made threats."

The accused boy, who was 15 at the time of the knife attack, told the court he was "petrified" of the older boy, and had deleted a video he filmed of the attack.

Jones then asked why the defendant did not contact the police when Hambakachere appeared at his house in the minutes before the pair went to the alley where the stabbing took place.

"They wouldn't have got there in time and that would've caused problems with my family," the boy replied.

The trial continues.

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