Keelan Wilson murder trial: Accused denies being member of violent street gang
An alleged gang member denied taking part in the killing of a 15-year-old boy.
Nehemie Tampwo, aged 19, told Wolverhampton Crown Court he was at a friend’s house on the night Keelan Wilson was stabbed in the Merry Hill area of Wolverhampton.
Tampwo, Fern Grove, Bletchley, is one of four 19-year-old men accused of murdering Keelan in Strathfield Walk, on May 29, 2018.
Prosecutors say the attack was the result of tensions between two postcode gangs called V2 and V3.
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Tampwo denied being part of the V3 gang when questioned by his defence counsel, Mr Balraj Bhatia QC, but said: “I was aware of the rivalries between the V3 and V2 gangs but I was not a member.”
The defendant told jurors he did not leave his associate’s Wolverhampton address until 7am the following day, on May 30.
He also recalled seeing the other defendants – Brian Sasa, Tyrique King and Zenay Pennant-Phillips – at that address.
The morning after Keelan was killed, Tampwo said he met “a friend” and was given a black puffer jacket and trainers to dispose of, which were found to contain Keelan’s DNA.
Asked by the judge, Mr Michael Chambers QC, what his friend was called, Tampwo said: “I am not a snitch.”
Tampwo took the items to an address in Telford where he worked for a drug dealing operation, the court heard.
Sasa, of Long Ley, Heath Town; King, of Chelwood Gardens, Bilston; and Pennant-Phillips, whose address cannot be published, all deny murder too.
The trial continues.
