One of two 12-year-old boys accused of murdering a man with a machete had blood on his hand after the stabbing, a child witness has told a court.
The teenage girl also claimed the same boy was put in a headlock by 19-year-old Shawn Seesahai, who died from a 23cm-deep wound which almost went the whole way through his body.
The defendants, whose identities are protected by a court order, are on trial for murder at Nottingham Crown Court, after denying the charge and blaming each other for the death of Mr Seesahai.
The youth alleged to have been seen with blood on his hand has admitted possession of a machete, but denies attacking the victim on Wolverhampton’s Stowlawn playing fields on the night of November 13 last year.
The other youth denies he was ever in possession of the weapon.
Giving evidence by videolink in the second week of the boys’ trial, a girl aged in her early teens told the court she was sitting with both youths on a bench when two men approached the group and told them to move.
The Crown alleges Mr Seesahai, originally from Anguilla in the Caribbean but living in Birmingham, was attacked by the boys acting together, after one of them “shoulder-brushed” him and told the victim and his friend to “keep stepping”.
Answering questions from Rachel Brand KC, defending the boy alleged to have been seen with blood on his hand, the girl said she had given accounts of what happened in police interviews a day after the incident, and a month afterwards.
The witness told the court Mr Seesahai said “Yo move, move” and had then smiled at his friend, before the youth who has admitted possessing a machete asked him why and stood up.
The witness said in her evidence that she had then picked up the machete, which was still in its cover, herself.
The teenager said the weapon was grabbed from her by the boy who owned the knife, who was then put in a headlock by the victim, before the knife was passed to the other boy, who she saw hitting the man with it.
She said: “The man let go (of the boy in a headlock) and then (the other defendant) hit him.”
The whole incident happened very quickly, the schoolgirl told the court, as she agreed with the suggestion that her two police interviews had contained “two completely different stories”.
The witness said the boy she saw with blood on his hand had bought the knife, “often” carried it, and had brought it to her house around a month before the alleged murder.
During cross-examination by Paul Lewis KC, the witness denied telling lies to “cover up” for the boy who owned the knife.
She said of the machete: “It was thin, and then it went into thick and obviously had a point at the end.
“I never took notice of it.
“He said something to do with that he got it so… anyone like ever attacked him, he can use that to defend himself.”
Asked by Mr Lewis if Mr Seesahai or his friend had gone behind the bench towards the boy who owned the knife, the girl replied: “Not until after telling us to move.
“He was getting in (the boy’s) face, saying ‘You are going to make this hard for me?’ Me and (the other 12-year-old) were just watching.”
Asked to explain why she had said one of the things she had told police which were not true, the witness answered: “I was scared – I was scared for us all.
“I didn’t want to say anything about either of them.”
The girl said she could remember picking up one of the deceased’s trainers, which was found on a nearby road, and that one of the defendants appeared “calm” after the fatal attack, while the other was “shell-shocked”.
She also answered “no” when asked by Mr Lewis if the boy who owned the knife had phoned her after the stabbing and asked her to “say it was (the other defendant) to cover up for him”.
Questioned as to whether the boy had told her what happened to the blade afterwards, the girl said she was told it had been hidden under a bed and had been “bleached”.
Mr Lewis continued: “Did he tell you there was blood on both his top and his trousers?” The girl replied: “No”.
The trial will resume on Monday.