Man found not guilty of murdering teenager stabbed at Walsall house party

Rezwan Ali, 19, died after he was knifed three times in the chest and arm and left with a four-inch wound to the heart which severed a major artery.

Rajan Natt, 20, was accused of murdering Mr Ali during the fight, which unfolded between two groups at a house in Willows Road, in Walsall, on January 14, 2018.

The court had been told that both men had gone "to enjoy themselves", with Natt attending with friends and Mr Ali arriving later that evening to join his friends after finishing a shift as a pizza delivery driver.

The party ended with Mr Ali staggering from the fight mortally wounded and being left to bleed as Natt and his friends “immediately” fled, prosecutors said.

After deliberating for almost 20 hours, the jury at Birmingham Crown Court returned a verdict of not guilty to the charge of murder.

Opening the case at Birmingham Crown Court last month, James Curtis QC said: "The Crown say the stabbing was a result of tempers being lost in an escalating altercation between two separate group of friends.

“It started for no reason. It became a fist fight, then got out of control causing the senseless and tragic loss of a person’s life.”

The trouble began when two of Natt’s male friends “seem to have been making a nuisance of themselves” earlier in the night, said the Crown’s barrister.

Mr Ali, who a post mortem found had very little alcohol and no drugs in his system, had not been part of the initial trouble. There was “no suggestion the defendant was joining in”, either, jurors heard.

As tensions mounted, both groups went into the back garden where a fight started.

Mr Curtis said: “The people who witnessed this fight got the impression it involved punching, nothing more.

“Some even described it as a clean fight, if such a thing exists. Sadly they were wrong. Very wrong.

“The prosecution say Rajan Natt was armed with a knife – and he used it.”

Desperate attempts to save the victim, including by a nurse who lived next door, were in vain.

The Crown alleged that Natt fled with his friends, before getting a taxi, accusing him of later phoning another party guest in a bid to secure an “alibi” which could place him away from the stabbing.

Prosecutors also claimed Natt first told police “I wasn’t there” during the fight and had not touched the victim, saying instead he only saw Mr Ali staggering into the kitchen.

However, when officers found Natt’s bloodstained top, the defendant then claimed the victim might have brushed past him, added the Crown’s QC.