March 9, 2022 7.00 pm This story is over 24 months old

Man who fatally stabbed Sam Davies tried to attack co-defendant in court

Gochman went for Kesel and had to be restrained by “four or five” officers
Flowers left in tribute of Lincoln stabbing victim Sam Davies. | Photo: The Lincolnite

The Sam Davies murder trial has been told that the man who stabbed him tried to attack a co-defendant in a courtroom.

Eimantas Gochman, 20, went for Eric Kesel and had to be restrained by “four or five” dock officers, the jury at Nottingham Crown Court heard on Wednesday, March 9.

It happened during a court appearance on December 3 last year, before the trial began in January.

Sam Davies, 23, was killed in a stabbing at Coleridge Gardens in Lincoln. | Photo: Lincolnshire Police

Allison Summers QC, for Kesel, suggested to Gochman that it was because Kesel had “snitched” on him.

“You got up out of your seat and you went to assault Eric Kesel, didn’t you?” she said.

“Yes,” replied Gochman. “I think that just shows how emotional I felt. I just couldn’t hold it in.”

“It shows how angry you were, doesn’t it?” Ms Summers asked.

Gochman said: “Yeah, because of how many false things he said about me in the interviews. I knew what everyone’s thinking when they’re reading the interviews and imagining me to be like. I’m completely the opposite.”

In his evidence-in-chief on Tuesday, Gochman admitted stabbing 23-year-old Mr Davies in a Lincoln park on May 27 last year. He claimed he had only intended to beat up the victim; that the wounding was accidental and done in self-defence when Mr Davies repeatedly came at him with a knife.

Gochman had told the jury that Kesel – a friend who happened to be in the park and had no knowledge of the planned attack – then came up behind Mr Davies and pushed him, sending him to his hands and knees.

Gochman said he immediately ran off up Browning Drive, followed by Kesel who handed him a phone after they met up outside Kesel’s house. 

Ms Summers put it to Gochman that Kesel did not push Mr Davies and did not pick up what turned out to be the victim’s phone.

She said: “The reason you waited for Eric Kesel was to make it clear to him that he was to keep his mouth shut about what you had just done.”

“No, because he didn’t really witness it,” said Gochman. “He wasn’t there in the alleyway when it happened.”

Ms Summers said: “’Keep your f***ing mouth shut’ or words to that effect is what you said.”

Gochman denied that and said he would put his life on the fact that Kesel’s fingerprints would be on Mr Davies’ phone, which was later found with the knife in the grounds of Cathedral View Court in Cabourne Avenue.

He also told the jury that he didn’t realise Mr Davies had been stabbed twice.

Ms Summers said of the incident: “You said that you felt pressure on your hand and it was ‘as if someone pushed it against me’.

“You’re not suggesting that Sam Davies somehow accidentally pushed himself on to your knife are you?”

Gochman said: “I didn’t say he accidentally pushed himself on to it.

“The movements of us both, it was so fast, so dark.

“He was leaping towards me. He’s six foot, I’m six foot five so he was aiming higher. Maybe that’s how it happened.”

Ms Summers said that would account for one of the wounds.

“That’s all I thought happened,” said the defendant. ”I only found out in this trial and investigation that he’d been stabbed twice.”

He added: “I only felt that pressure one time.”

Meanwhile, under cross-examination by Karim Khalil QC representing co-defendant Joe Jameson, Gochman admitted that he lied to police in interview to “distance himself” from events on the day in question.

And barrister Andrew Campbell-Tiech, representing a 17-year-old co-defendant who cannot be named, said: “You told us [the boy] had absolutely nothing to do with anything that concerns the jury. And that’s true, isn’t it?”

“Yes, absolutely nothing,” said Gochman.

Mr Campbell-Tiech said: “[The youth] told police that Charlie Wakefield had given you gloves [just prior to the attack].”

“I know. He didn’t,” replied Gochman.

“Can you think of a reason why he would make that up?” asked the barrister.

“Maybe because he was on drugs,” was the reply.

Gochman also told the jury that despite spending much of the two days after the attack with Wakefield – including a shopping trip to Nottingham – they hardly talked about the events surrounding the stabbing.

William Harbage QC, for the prosecution, challenged Gochman over messages between Daniel Heydari’s phone and Billy Gill’s on May 27, which included “need someone dipped up” [stabbed].

These were sent immediately before Jameson rang Gochman to get him to attack Mr Davies.

“It doesn’t look good,” Gochman told Mr Harbage.

And referring to a subsequent message about “five there”, Mr Harbage said: “In the context of getting someone dipped up, it’s a price isn’t it?”

“I don’t know,” replied Gochman.

Mr Harbage said: “A serious job, getting someone dipped up – it’s a price, isn’t it?”

Again, Gochman said he did not know.

Seven defendants from Lincoln all face one count of murder, which they all deny.

They are Billy Gill, 21, of Hatcliffe Gardens; Daniel Heydari, 25, of Chestnut Street; Joe Jameson, 24, of Whitehall Terrace; Eimantas Gochman, 20, of Sturton Close; Eric Kesel, 19, of Browning Drive; and Charlie Wakefield, 21, of Broxholme Gardens.

A 17-year-old boy cannot be legally identified due to his age.

Jameson is also accused of making a threat to kill, which he denies.

The trial continues.

EARLIER ON WEDNESDAY

A first defendant accused of murdering Lincoln man Sam Davies has declined to give evidence.

Members of the jury were told on Tuesday, March 8, that Billy Gill would not be going into the witness box at Nottingham Crown Court.

Gill, 21, of Hatcliffe Gardens, Lincoln, is one of seven defendants accused of the murder of 23-year-old Mr Davies in the city last year.

It’s accepted that Gill supplied the phone number for Eimantas Gochman to Daniel Heydari’s phone.

Joe Jameson then made contact with Gochman, who fatally stabbed Mr Davies in a park off Coleridge Gardens on May 27.

Mr Davies died in Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, in the early hours of the following day.

All seven defendants face one count of murder, which they all deny.

Jameson is also accused of making a threat to kill, which he denies.

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