Teenage murder suspect denies stabbing victim more than once
A teenager has denied stabbing a Polish man who later died from his injuries on more than one occasion, claiming he returned to the victim just to have a look at his wound.
The 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claims he only picked up the knife after it had been dropped by Lukasz Furmanek and he had stabbed him once in self defence.
The incident led to the death of Mr Furmanek, aged 24, while Radoslaw Dudek was left clinging to life after both were stabbed in Handsworth.
Abdullah Atiqzoy, aged 18, of Elizabeth Crescent, Oldbury and the 16-year-old boy each deny murder and attempted murder. Feizullah Atiqzoy, 24, of Swan Crescent, Oldbury, denies assisting an offender.
Mr Mark Haywood, defending Abdullah Atiqzoy, claimed the 16-year-old had in fact stabbed the victim three times and kicked him in the head while he was lying on the ground.
But the 16-year-old, speaking at Birmingham Crown Court on Monday, said he had moved forward just to check the stab wound, which was when he had seen blood on Mr Furmanek's body.
Mr Haywood, recalling CCTV footage that had earlier been played in court, said: "He did not put up his hands to defend himself. Is Mr Furmanek not walking back wounded having been stabbed by you before?"
The 16-year-old replied: "I do not agree with that."
Mr Haywood continued: "You came back to his body while he lay on the ground and kicked him so hard his feet moved. Why did you feel you had to go forward and approach the body?
"After seeing the stab wound what were you really going to do? Why did you really go back?
"You stabbed him again, did you not? He had two stab wounds in his chest. It must've been you who wounded him twice."
"No," replied the teenager.
Mr Haywood added: "You stabbed him, he fell to the floor and you moved forward to follow up with another stab wound."
The teenager again claimed he was only looking at the wound because he wanted to see how bad it was.
Mr Haywood suggested the teenager had taken a knife from a friend's house and had not picked up a weapon dropped by Mr Furmanek.
He also said Atiqzoy had not stabbed Mr Furmanek and 16-year-old had inflicted all the wounds on the Polish man's body.
The 16-year-old said 'he did not say that' and he did not know whether his co-accused had also stabbed Mr Furmanek or not.
The trial continues.
