Man accused of murdering 16-year-old with machete in Stourbridge 'only wanted to frighten him'
A teenager accused of murdering a 16-year-old boy with a machete in broad daylight had the weapon for days before the attack but says he was only "holding it" for a friend.
Dray Simmonds, aged 19, is one of four teenagers on trial for the murder of Joseph Riches in a violent altercation in the centre of Stourbridge in the early evening of July 15 last year. He denies murder, and has told a court the violence was not pre-planned.
Ring doorbell and CCTV footage captured the moment Mr Riches, wearing a blue tracksuit, was run down by four males in Coventry Street and fatally stabbed. It came seconds after he had approached the group further up the street in a pedestrianised area and attacked them with a screwdriver.
Simmonds, one of those Mr Riches attacked with the screwdriver, was then seen on CCTV chasing after Mr Riches alongside the other males, with a machete visible in Simmonds' left hand.
The video footage, showed to a jury at Coventry Crown Court, captured the males, including Simmonds and Joshua Edgington, also 19, catching up to Mr Riches and taking him to the ground in front of a house at the end of Coventry Street.
A Toyota car pulling up between the camera and Mr Riches blocked the camera's view of what happened to him while he was on the ground, but he returned to view seconds later and got into the back of the Toyota which sped off. A large amount of blood could be seen spilling from his body onto the road surface, and he later died of stab injuries.
One of the other males was seen holding the machete at this point, and swinging it towards the car as it left.
Simmonds, of Dixons Green in Dudley, admitted that he had been carrying the blade around for days before the attack, but denies being part of a pre-planned assault and maintains that he only wanted to "frighten" Mr Riches after the screwdriver attack.
