One of the attackers shouted that they were “going to get the black bastard” as they chased Dea-John Reid through the Kingstanding area of Birmingham, the court heard.
This article titled “Five accused of hunting down boy, 14, in Birmingham before fatal stabbing” was written by Mark Brown, for The Guardian on Wednesday 23rd February 2022 16.30 UTCTwo men in their late 30s and three teenagers were like “a pack” as they hunted down a 14-year-old boy in broad daylight before he was fatally stabbed, a murder trial has heard.
One of the attackers shouted that they were “going to get the black bastard” as they chased Dea-John Reid through the Kingstanding area of Birmingham, the court heard.
An elderly woman screamed: “They have stabbed him, they have stabbed him,” after the attack, which took place in front of several witnesses, Birmingham crown court heard on Wednesday.
George Khan, 39, and Michael Shields, 36, are on trial with three teenagers who were aged 14, 14 and 16 at the time of the incident last May. They all deny murder.
Footage of the moment Dea-John was stabbed on College Road was played to the jury. The prosecution said it showed all five defendants chasing him and then running away after it happened.
Prosecutor Richard Wormald QC said: “The evidence you are about to hear shows that acting as a group, they went to look for Dea-John Reid and after finding him in a park in Kingstanding, chased and caught up with him. He was then stabbed in the chest.
“The prosecution’s case is that all five are responsible for his murder because the evidence quite clearly shows that all five acted together. They acted collectively.
“It can be inferred from the evidence that all must have intended to cause Dea-John serious harm, and each knew when they began their pursuit of him that such harm was likely.”
The now 15-year-old boy who is alleged to have stabbed Dea-John was motivated by “revenge” for an incident that took place earlier in the day, the court heard. He armed himself with a kitchen knife before Khan allegedly drove all five to “hunt him down”.
Wormald said of Khan and Shields. “They are much older – in their late 30s – and as you listen to the evidence you may think that their behaviour in positively participating in the attack is nothing short of a disgrace.”
He continued: “The killing happened in broad daylight. It was a revenge attack for events that had happened earlier in the day involving the three younger defendants. They sought help in the form of the two older male defendants.”
Wormald said Khan “actively encouraged the attack” once Dea-John was found.
“It was a group attack, during which they each played their part, running after Dea-John Reid, blocking off his escape routes and enabling [one of the youths] to chase down and fatally stab Dea-John Reid to the left side of his chest.
“The defendants acted like a pack, chasing down their prey.”
None of the group offered support or comfort to the boy, Wormald told jurors. “They simply left him to die.”
Wormald said one witness who had just got off a bus in College Road recalled seeing “about five guys chasing a black boy, with one of them shouting that they were ‘going to get the black bastard’”.
Another witness had spoken of how he saw Dea-John “hold his stomach and collapse” after seeing two white males chase him.
The incident took place on 31 May last year. Shields, of Castle Bromwich, and Khan, of Birmingham, and the three youths, who cannot be named because of their age, all deny murder. Hollie Davies, 36, of Birmingham, denies assisting an offender.
The trial, which is expected to last up to eight weeks, continues.
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