A MAN accused of repeatedly stabbing another man in an ambush knew that ‘death was an almost inevitable outcome’, a court was told yesterday.
The claim was made in the closing prosecution speech in the Royal Court trial of Alex Diogo Franca De Jesus (19), who is charged with attempted murder of an 18-year-old man. Two teenagers, who cannot be named, are charged with grave and criminal assault and affray. All three deny the charges against them.
An 18-year-old man, Jayden Howard, has already admitted attempted murder and is not involved in the trial. The stabbing took place at the Le Geyt estate in St Saviour on the evening of 9 January last year.
Mr De Jesus admitted turning up armed with a knife but claimed Howard took the knife from him and carried out the stabbing. He admitted punching the victim and pleaded guilty to grave and criminal assault instead. The two unnamed teenagers said they did not participate and only watched as Howard and Mr De Jesus attacked the victim.
Summing up for the prosecution, Advocate Matthew Maletroit told the jurors that the stabbing was ‘a planned and targeted attack orchestrated by De Jesus’.
And he said of the two teenagers: ‘They were not there as mere spectators. They were there as back-up.’
De Jesus owed the victim money for cannabis but had no means to pay, said Advocate Maletroit, adding: ‘He needed to deal with him.
‘It was for that reason that he armed himself with a deadly weapon.
‘It was for that reason that he arranged for three of his friends to come as back-up, at least one of whom was also armed with a knife.
‘In any sensible interpretation, this was an ambush.’
He went on: ‘At the moment when he pulled out his knife it is safe to infer he shared the same purpose as his friend Howard. He knew that death was an almost inevitable outcome of the events he was participating in.’
The advocate argued that the two teenagers were not just innocent bystanders.
He said: ‘They were, they say, in the wrong place at the wrong time. But they knew violence was intended. They knew their friends had knives.
‘They were not there as mere spectators. They were there as back-up.’
He also said that assisting or encouraging an attack, even if they did not engage in it physically, still constituted grave and criminal assault.
The jury were due to begin considering their verdicts today.
