A panicked 999 call made by a friend of wounded 'killer' Kearne Solanke as he bled to death in street has been played to jurors. The 16-year-old is alleged to have joined four other males during a post-code rivalry ride-out to Abbey Wood, where prosecutors say they rammed 16-year-old Charlie Bartolo off his moped and fatally stabbed him in the head with a 'sword' to settle a 'beef'.
But they say Mr Solanke was accidently injured in the frenzied attack, receiving a stab wound to his shoulder which punctured his lung and caused him to die an hour later. Opening the murder trial at Inner London Crown Court Thursday (November 9), prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC told jurors it was in fact a 16-year-old defendant who mistakenly knifed down his accomplice Mr Solanke.
He drew attention to CCTV footage which, he alleged, showed Mr Solanke repeatedly stabbing Mr Bartolo, then stumbling and dropping a knife before picking it up. But when Mr Solanke tried to back into the car, the prosecution say footage shows how he 'lurched back' after the knife, held by the 16-year-old, allegedly entered his shoulder.
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The knife gang then took Mr Solanke back to Thamesmead, where a panicked 999 call was made before they left him at the side of the road to bleed to death, it is alleged. The distressing call was played to jurors, with Mr Solanke's family watching proceedings from a separate room while friends sat in the public gallery.
The caller, who only identified himself as a friend of Mr Solanke called 'John Brady', told the call handler: "Someone has been stabbed. Bro please hurry up. Ambulance, we don't need police." After giving the address, the caller said: "Hurry up, hurry up. I do not know what's going on." Sobbing could also be heard in the background from a woman who was not identified in the hearing.
"He's struggling to breathe, please please quick," the call continued. "We are getting someone there now," the call handler said. "He's losing a lot of blood from his shoulder... He's breathing, he's losing a lot of blood... He's breathing but he's losing a lot of blood, it's an open wound... Hurry, please please quick."
At some point the caller then speaks to another person, and said: "You have to keep your eyes open. I'm telling you on your mum's life." He then told the call handler: "We do not know what happened. I have just seen him on the floor bleeding... Stay with me please [to Mr Solanke]."
Asked again how he found Mr Solanke, the caller repeated: "We just saw him on the side of the road. We saw him, we bumped into him. We do not know what happened. I think it's a stab wound." However, rather than being 'John Brady' Mr Emlyn Jones alleged the caller was in fact the 17-year-old defendant using the phone of Hussain Bah.
'They simply left Kearne to bleed to death'
Summarising Mr Solanke's death, Mr Emlyn Jones said: "“Well, the dreadful truth is that Kearne Solanke was one of Charlie’s murderers.
“During the violence, one of his own team, whilst aiming his attack at Charlie Bartolo, stabbed his own friend.
“In the confusion and chaos – and, I am afraid to say, the excitement – of the moment, his knife found the wrong target.
“Kearne Solanke was killed as a result of his friends’, and his own, attack on Charlie Bartolo. They simply left Kearne to bleed to death.
“The prosecution’s case is that these men were acting together with a shared intention of stabbing and seriously harming their target and that therefore they are all jointly responsible for the attack.”
A 16-year-old, a 17-year-old, and two 19-year-olds, Hussain Bah and Alagie Jobe, all deny two counts of murder. The trial under Mr Justice Neil Garnham continues.
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