TWO more teenagers have appeared at Warwick Crown Court over the killing of a young man who died after being stabbed in the leg in the garden of a Coventry house.
Matthew Brankin and Kyle Kinchen appeared together after being charged with the murder of 21-year-old Emmanuel Lukenga – less than a week after another teenager had stood in the dock.
At that earlier hearing Enroy Ruddock (18) of Melbourne Road, Coventry, pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Lukenga, and the court was told two more people were likely to be charged.
The charge against all three follows an incident in the garden of a house in Franklin Grove, Tile Hill, in the early afternoon of June 12.
Emmanuel suffered a serious injury when he was stabbed in the leg, allegedly after being chased by a group of men, including two on a motorbike, and was pronounced dead at the scene following the arrival of paramedics.
Barristers for Brankin (19) of Thimber Road, Canley, Coventry, and Kinchen (18) of John Rous Avenue, Coventry, said they were not making any applications for bail.
So Judge Andrew Lockhart QC remanded them both in custody and adjourned the case for them to appear with Ruddock at a hearing on July 29.
During Ruddock’s hearing prosecutor Peter Grieves-Smith said the trial had already been fixed for December 2, and was initially expected to take up to three weeks.
But Judge Andrew Lockhart QC, who is to hear it, asked: “Are we going to make the trial date of the 2nd of December?”
And Mr Grieves-Smith responded: “I would be very concerned about giving the court any guarantee that the trial could finish by Christmas.”
It was at his suggestion that the case is to be listed again on July 29, with all three defendants present, by which time he said there would be ‘a clearer picture.’
He pointed out: “One of the things which will have to be considered is that there are 127 separate items of CCTV which will have to be reviewed.”
“This is a complex investigation, investigating the facts just prior to the offence and also after the offence.”
