A YOUNG man has recounted the horror of fatally stabbed friend Daniel Kirkwood’s final moments outside a Coventry night club.
The jury at Warwick Crown Court heard Marlon Wilson followed the teenage out of the Society nightclub in March last year and saw him collapsed on the road as another friend desperately tried to save him.
But 18-year-old Daniel went into cardiac arrest in an ambulance as a result of injuries to his neck and jugular vein, and was pronounced dead at 2.50am.
Tobijah Thompson, Hasham Ali, Ramez Murtaza, Ezra Scott and Zaker Khan have all pleaded not guilty to Daniel’s murder.
They have also denied charges of violent disorder and wounding two of Daniel’s friends, Nigel Mkhwananzi and Niall Kavanagh with intent to cause them grievous bodily harm.
Thompson (25) of no fixed address; Murtaza (21) of Bordesley Green East, Bordesley Green; Khan (25) of Belchers Lane, Small Heath; Scott (32) of Hawksyard Road, Erdington; and Ali (19) of Amberley Green, Great Barr, also deny assaulting a fourth person, Christopher O’Brien.
In addition Thompson, previously of Blakesley Way, Bordesley Green, has pleaded not guilty to possessing an offensive weapon, a knife, in the Society nightclub.
Marlon Wilson, one of the friends with whom Daniel went to the night club, said they had met up earlier in the Alvis Social Club where he had five or six double whisky and Cokes.
Mr Wilson said that after going to another friend’s home to change, they went to a bar and then to the Society where they were ‘patted down’ before being allowed in.
After going to the toilets he was speaking to a young woman he knew when he noticed ‘a commotion in the other corner.’
“People were moving away from the area and people were moving to it. I would describe it as a maul. Christopher O’Brien and two Asian males were involved.
“Christopher was bent over. I rushed over. One of them had hold of him in a headlock, and one was trying to hit him with punches and kicks. Christopher was trying to block the hits, covering his face, but there wasn’t much he could do.
“I went to kick the guy who was punching and kicking him to move him away. I made contact.
“I think someone else got involved at some time. I was pushed, but I don’t know who pushed me, and I stumbled towards the DJ booth.”
He said he then saw more of his friends ‘backed up against the wall,’ and stood between them and other people ‘trying to calm everything down.’
Mr Wilson said he then recalled one of his friends, Jordan Williams, being restrained by a member of staff and being pulled out of the club, so went to follow him.
“I got to the doorway and I could see Jordan being thrown outside. I looked back, and that’s when I could see Daniel running towards me.
“He was clutching his neck and running quite frantically.
“He ran to me and rested his arm on me and carried on moving past me towards Jordan who was trying to get back in.
“As he grabbed on to me I could see blood spill from his hand, and that’s when I could tell he was injured.”
Mr Williams said he then followed the other two outside.
“Jordan was screaming and holding Daniel, and Daniel collapsed on the road. Jordan was still trying to hold his neck, trying to cover the wound.”
He told the jury he borrowed a young woman’s phone to call the emergency services, and another man came over to help.
The prosecution allege the defendants acted together to attack another group and was responsible for the stabbings.
It is alleged it was Thompson who was armed with the knife which stabbed Daniel and the two who were wounded.
The trial continues.
