Sam Davies murder trial: Accused, 17, wasn’t ‘killer’s little helper’

A teenager jointly accused of murdering Sam Davies in Lincoln has wrongly been characterised as ‘the stabber’s little helper’, his barrister says.

In his closing speech on behalf of the 17-year-old defendant, who cannot legally be identified due to his age, Andrew Campbell-Tiech QC said the youth could be “deleted” from the case and it would not have affected the outcome – the killing of Mr Davies on the St Giles estate in Lincoln last year.

The youth was captured on CCTV walking from and to a taxi in Coleridge Gardens at about the time of the attack in an adjoining park.

The prosecution says he was there to watch and report back to fellow defendant Charlie Wakefield, who was on a 7pm-7am home curfew at the time.

The youth’s case is that his presence was coincidental as he had been sent there by Wakefield to buy cocaine from another defendant, Eric Kesel.

Addressing the jury at Nottingham Crown Court on Monday, April 4, Mr Campbell-Tiech said the prosecution painting the youth as “Goch’s little helper” was “absurd” as there had been no communication between Gochman and the boy before the stabbing and very little between Gochman and Wakefield.

The barrister said if the boy was “a helper” why had he not gone to the scene in Gochman’s taxi for the scheduled attack time of 10pm.

“Where is Goch’s little helper? He’s at the Co-op,” he added.

The jury was reminded that the victim’s arrival time at the Browning Drive entrance to the park was 10:46:11pm.

Mr Campbell-Tiech said going by the six CCTV clips of his client walking towards the park – and ignoring the prosecution’s suggestion that he was running at other times – the boy would have left its Coleridge Gardens entrance between 10.46.16pm and 10.46.21pm.

During his speech, Mr Campbell-Tiech gave the jury 14 mnemonics – “trigger words” – to remind members of the case against his lay client.

One was “delete the defendant”.

He said: “Just imagine that Eimantas Gochman had gone to watch a football match in London that day.

“What effect would there have been on the events of May 27?

“Sam Davies would not have died.

“Just imagine that [the boy] simply didn’t exist at all. What difference would it have made to the outcome of May 27?

“Absolutely none. Sam Davies would have died [as a result of the attack] whether [the boy] existed or not.

“That is a powerful indication as to his role – a role that is wholly inessential to the purpose or outcome.”

During the trial, the jury heard the boy immediately lied following his arrest on June 16.

He told police that he had not been at the scene but Wakefield had and he claimed Wakefield had given Gochman gloves outside a Co-op a couple of hours before the stabbing. Both statements were later proved to be wrong.

Wakefield assaulted the boy following a court appearance last December.

All seven defendants face one count of murder, which they all deny. They are Billy Gill, 21, of Hatcliffe Gardens; Eimantas Gochman, 20, of Sturton Close; Daniel Heydari, 25, of Chestnut Street; Joe Jameson, 24, of Whitehall Terrace; 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.

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