An Afghan asylum seeker who lied about his age stabbed an aspiring Royal Marine to death in a row over an electric scooter, a court has heard.
Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai, 21, twice plunged a knife into Thomas Roberts’ chest when the 21-year-old tried to stop the altercation between him and his friend.
Mr Abdulrahimzai, 21, got into an argument with James Medway over an e-scooter he’d been using when Mr Medway was on a ‘very chilled’ night out with Mr Roberts.
Moments after intervening, Mr Roberts sustained two stab wounds to his chest from ‘aggressive’ Mr Abdulrahimzai – with one slicing through his heart, a jury heard on Tuesday.
‘A fatal encounter all about a scooter which has cost this boy his life,’ prosecutor Nic Lobbenberg KC told jurors.
Ahead of proceedings at Salisbury Crown Court in Wilts, Judge Paul Dugdale confirmed there was a legal dispute over Mr Abdulrahimzai’s age and it had to be determined at a court hearing.
Following his arrest, Mr Abdulrahimzai, who admits manslaughter but denies murder, told officers he believed he was 16- years-old and had entered the UK aged 14 from Afghanistan leading him to be considered a juvenile.
He was unable to be identified in the media as a result. During the hearing on Tuesday it emerged he had told friends in Dorset he was 16.
Jurors heard the blade he was carrying was ‘at least’ 10cm long and security guard Bradley Skinner told the hearing he sprinted over with a first aid kit to help.
Mr Lobbenberg said Mr Roberts and Mr Medway visited several bars and clubs, including a strip club, before the attack unfolded around 4.40am outside a Subway sandwich shop in Bournemouth, Dorset, on March 12 last year.
They had been looking to get a taxi home when Mr Medway suggested they take what appeared to be an unused e-scooter but Mr Abdulrahimzai quickly became ‘aggressive’ over it.
Mr Lobbenberg added: ‘Thomas was the peacemaker, he came between the two men. For his troubles, he received two stab wounds.
The first was to his chest, it cut two bones in his rib, and sliced through his chest cavity … and cut the left ventricle of his heart.
‘Mr Abdulrahimzai is accused of fleeing on foot following the alleged murder.
CCTV footage released to the jury today shows the moment Abdulrahimzai flees on foot immediately after the stabbing while being chased by Mr Medway.
Abdulrahimzai can be seen running ‘very fast’ with his hood up as he sprints to a nearby park.
In CCTV footage, Mr Roberts, a nightclub DJ from Bournemouth who aspired to be a Royal Marine, and was described as ‘kind and funny’, could be seen staggering on his feet then collapsing seconds after he was knifed.
Mr Abdulrahimzai, from Poole, Dorset, had been drifting around Bournemouth town centre in the early hours of March 12 on the Beryl e-scooter and shortly before the attack attempted to headbutt one reveller outside a club, the court was told.
Mr Roberts, a drum and bass DJ known as ‘Nomad’, had worked at local nightclubs and had ambitions to become a Royal Marine.
After his death, his family described him as ‘kind and funny’ and said that he ‘brought so much life into the room.’
His family, attending court on Tuesday, wept in the public gallery as they watched proceedings.
Jurors today also heard 999 calls made moments after the alleged murder around 4.40am on March 12.
One woman, who was taking cash out of an ATM when she saw Abdulrahimzai, told 999 operators ‘he was running very fast’.
Others urged emergency call handlers to send an ambulance immediately as Mr Roberts was losing a lot of blood and ‘is going to die’.
The court also heard that before the stabbing, Abdulrahimzai – wearing a balaclava – headbutted another man.
Reveller Alfie Goulty told Salisbury Crown Court he had been denied entry from a club in Bournemouth and got chatting to Abdulrahimzai, who he did not know.
Mr Goulty, 18, was having a verbal disagreement with another reveller when Abdulrahimzai joined in on the conversation and became ‘aggressive’ towards the other male.
He said: ‘The person that joined was wearing a coat and balaclava, which was not fully on.
‘He was just repeating my words, he was telling him to go away… He used his head on him, he used it to nudge him away, it was like a headbutt.
Abdulrahimzai, from Poole, Dorset, denies murder. The two-week trial continues.
