A roofer who died after being stabbed in a Grimsby street during a violent confrontation was allegedly attacked because he “disrespected” two drug dealers and they brutally “taught him a lesson”.
Roofer Jack Howes, 29, is said to have been stabbed by the “incensed and angry” drug dealers and he died after suffering two catastrophic knife wound injuries that would have led to “lots of blood” being very quickly lost, a court heard. Kian Feve, 22, of Southfield Road, Scunthorpe, and Robert Wattam, 23, of School Houses, Broughton, deny murdering Mr Howes on March 20.
The prosecution at Hull Crown Court claims that Kian Feve and Mr Wattam were dealers in heroin and crack cocaine and that Mr Howes agreed late on March 19 to meet them in Grimsby to buy drugs. An argument broke out and Mr Howes ran off but he is said to have slipped before being attacked by Kian Feve and Mr Wattam in the early hours of March 20.
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He was kicked as he lay on the ground and he was stabbed twice in the chest and abdomen, causing “catastrophic” injuries. Mr Howes died in hospital at 2.30am on March 20.
Prosecutor Stephen Wood KC asked Kian Feve, during cross-examination of his defence evidence, how it was that he claimed that the knife injuries were caused to Mr Howes. Kian Feve replied: “When he has come forward to me, I have gone forward to him and lashed out. I don’t know what I did.
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“When I got back to the house, there was blood on the knife. I don’t know when I hurt Jack but it had to be in that vicinity of time.”
Mr Wood claimed that Kian Feve chased Mr Howes down the street and that he had a knife with him. Kian Feve claimed: “It was in my pocket.”
Mr Wood replied: “I don’t accept that. You were so incensed and angry in Macaulay Way that you, as a drug dealer, were being disrespected by a customer, that you taught him a lesson.” Kian Feve replied: “No.”
Mr Wood said that Mr Howes would have posed no threat to Kian Feve at the moment of being stabbed because he was “bent over”. Kian Feve agreed. Mr Wood asked if Kian Feve had seen blood in Macaulay Way at the time of the first part of the attack on Mr Howes. Kian Feve claimed: “Not once.”
Mr Wood asked him how much blood was he claiming that he later saw on the knife. “Not much,” claimed Kian Feve. The pathologist had said, however, that there would have been “lots of blood”.
Mr Wood claimed that the more serious stab wound to the abdomen of Mr Howes was caused as he went to the ground and was getting up. Mr Wood said that Kian Feve had claimed during his defence evidence that he felt “terrible” and “sorry” about what happened to Mr Howes, but, if that was really the case, he would have answered police questions during interview instead of saying “no comment”.
Kian Feve replied: “My legal team told me it was best not to answer questions.” Mr Wood told him: “You could have said, ‘thank you for the advice but a man has died and I want to say what has happened’.”
Kian Feve claimed: “I was scared.” But Mr Wood claimed that there was another reason why he made no comment to the police. “That reason was this,” said Mr Wood. “At that stage, you didn’t know precisely the full extent of the police’s evidence against you, did you?” Kian Feve replied: “I knew there was evidence on me.”
Mr Wood claimed: “You were keeping your powder dry, because you thought that, if you committed yourself at that early stage to an account, there was a serious risk that the police would be able to undermine it and prove that it wasn’t true – and you weren’t prepared to take that risk, were you?” Kian Feve denied this.
Mr Wood asked him: “You have been putting together a case to fit the evidence, haven’t you?” Kian Feve replied: “No” but he admitted that he at first told a “deliberate lie” that he did not have a weapon with him.
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Mr Wood said that Kian Feve had claimed, in his first defence statement, that he and Wattam thought that they were going to be robbed by Mr Howes and that he saw a knife on the ground but did not know where it came from. Kian Feve told the court: “I was struggling to accept the truth. I was scared to admit that I had the knife.”
Mr Wood claimed: “You thought that you could get away with it.” Kian Feve replied: “No.”
Kian Feve had claimed in the statement that he made more than one “slashing motion” in an attempt to keep Mr Howes away from him and that he did not realise that the victim had been injured. Kian Feve told the court: “I lied in my first defence statement.”
Two other defendants are on trial at Hull Crown Court. Darren Watson, 28, of Queensway, Scunthorpe, denies assisting an offender by picking up Kian Feve and Mr Wattam from Grimsby and driving them back to Scunthorpe, impeding the apprehension or prosecution of them, on March 20.
Kian Feve’s stepfather, Darren Feve, 45, of Southfield Road, Scunthorpe, denies perverting the course of justice on March 23 by telling the police that his stepson was at the family home at the time of the incident involving Mr Howes. The trial continues.
Original artice: https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/all-about/scunthorpe
