A 17-year-old boy who is on trial accused of stabbing to death another young man he found at his Watford home was described in court today (Friday) as “honest caring and kind-hearted” who loves football.
The teenager, who was still 16 when he is alleged to have stabbed 18-year-old Risaan Udayakumar last July, is on trial at St Albans Crown Court.
He can’t be named for legal reasons and it’s claimed he stabbed the other teenager who was visiting his sister at the family home in Watford.
Risaan died when he was fatally stabbed in the heart while hiding in the garage attached to the home.
The jury has been told he had been taken there by the defendant’s sister who he was visiting.
Her brother pleads not guilty to murdering Risaan on the evening of Tuesday July 10 last year.
Today (Friday) statements from those who know the accused were read to the court by his defence team.
A 17-year-old boy, who is a good friend of the teenager, said he was “an honest guy” who would always tell him to his face what he was thinking.
He said the defendant was close to his family and his sister and was a keen footballer.
Another teenager said in a statement that the defendant was “Kind-hearted and caring and easy to socialise with” who didn’t drink or smoke.
On the night of the stabbing, he said he had been with the defendant watching a televised football match.
“He was his normal self that night, his normal happy bubbly self,” the teenager said.
He finished his statement by saying he had been “gobsmacked” the next day when he found out what had happened and said “I thought he was the last person to do something like that – what happened was out of character.”
A statement from a 17-year-old girl who knows the accused described him as a “caring person and protective” who was sensible and friendly.
Finally a statement was read out from a former teacher of the accused who said he had been popular at school and enjoyed making his friends laugh.
The teacher described the boy as “respectful.”
At the time of the killing, the accused’s parents were out of the country on holiday.
They had given strict instructions to him and his 19 year old sister that they were not to have friends round to the house.
They had also arranged for adult relatives to check on the house “to keep an eye” on the children, said prosecutor Michael Speak.
The court was told how, on July 7 this year, despite the parents’ ban on their children having friends at the house while they were away, it was arranged that some friends of the daughter, including the deceased, would come round to watch the football on television.
The jury heard on that occasion the brother had met Mr Risaan, with the two pumping fists together in a friendly gesture.
Three days later on Tuesday July 10, Mr Udayakumar, who lived with his parents in Wembley, was back at the sister’s home once more during the evening.
Her brother was not at home at the time.
That evening, she hid Risaan in the garage when an uncle called by the house to check everything was okay.
When he left, the girl and Risaan were still together when her brother returned unexpectedly.
Once more, the jury have been told, the sister, fearing how her brother might react on finding Risaan at the house, hid him in the garage.
She then opened a door to her brother, said the prosecutor, who told the jury: “As soon as she saw him it was clear to her that he was very angry and he pushed her out of the way. He was clearly looking for someone, so he must have suspected she must have someone in the room.”
The jury was told he was shouting: “Where is he…Where is he?!” and “Who is with you?”
Mr Speak said that, having searched the house and failed to find Risaan, the defendant went into the garage and there he found him down in a corner at the front of the garage by the front door.
The court was told the sister had followed her brother into the garage and then saw him set about Risaan by “hitting” him as he remained crouched on the floor.
The jury was told the victim offered no resistance and only raised his arms to shield his face.
At one point, said the prosecutor, the sister noticed the “look of fear” on Risaan’s face as the 16 year old boy angrily screamed “Get out of the house, what are you doing?!”
The prosecutor said the girl had no idea that in fact her brother had armed himself with a knife.
“When she saw her brother hitting Risaan several times, he was in fact stabbing him with the knife.”
Mr Speak said when the sister tried to get between the two teenagers, she realised blood was coming from Risaan’s mouth, there was blood in his shirt and a pool of blood was forming on the ground.
It was only then that she realised he had been stabbed and saw a knife in the hand of her brother.
Mr Udayakumar was rushed to Watford General Hospital, but nothing could be done to save him and he was pronounced dead at 10.41 that evening.
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