Jury shown CCTV footage of '"brutal" and "efficient" attack on Luton teenager as trio stand trial for murder

CCTV footage played to a jury showed what the prosecutor described as a “murderous assault” on a teenager in Luton.

Derrick Kinyua, 19, was seen walking back from JJ Food and Wine April in Hitchin Road on the evening of 14 April this year with a carrier bag in his hand.

Speaking in court on Wednesday, Prosecutor Charlene Sumnall said: “He appears to be calmly chatting to the male he is with. He is moments away from his home. He would never reach it. At 20.18 he parts from the male and rounds the bend into Crescent Road.”

She said at that time a grey Vauxhall Astra driven by Shakeel Morton, 20, and containing Malcolm Mangawa, 23, and the two 17-year-old boys was on Hucklesby Way.

“CCTV shows that Derrick Kinyua walks down Crescent Road towards his home. He doesn’t get very far before he is confronted initially by four males who all pile out of a vehicle and run towards him.

“It seems that all four are heading towards Derrick. They run with purpose, the crown say. There is initially no hesitation from any of them. It seems unlikely that this was a random attack on a stranger, although it is possible.”

The CCTV showed the two 17-year-olds were armed with large, visible knives or swords. Derrick Kinyua tried to defend himself with the contents of the carrier bag and a wheelie bin.

The two 17-year-old are said to have pursued him up Crescent Road. “He is clearly terrified for his life, he never takes his eye of the advancing (17 year olds) and their visible weaponry as they repeatedly lunge with their knives towards his body,” she said.

At the busy intersection with Hitchin Road the two are said to have continued pursuing him and reach the other side of the junction.

Ms Sumnall told the jury: “They stab him with brutal efficiency and force. Once to the neck and once to the chest. You will hear that both of those stab wounds were independently fatal.”

She went on: “The CCTV shows what the crown say is a murderous assault, brutal in its lethal efficiency.”

The two 17-year-olds turned back towards Crescent Road to what they presumed was the waiting Astra.

The court heard Morton and Mangawa initially pursued Derrick, but had turned back and returned to the car which was driven to where they were pursuing him.

“It makes no effort to stop and render any form of assistance to him,” said Ms Sumnall.

The car went back up Crescent Road and Mangawa gets out and appears to pick something up in what the prosecutor said was a clean-up post event. The grey Astra car was found abandoned on Sunday 16th April in the Broad Oak Court - Garfield Court area of Handcross Road.

Earlier the jury heard a crowd of people gathered around Derrick Kinyua who was on the ground in the middle of the pedestrian crossing. An ambulance was flagged down and they were shouting that he had been stabbed.

The crew, who were returning to the Luton and Dunstable Hospital, went to the aid of teenager Derrick Kinyua and began CPR.

Ms Sumnall said: “His clothing was cut from him to allow defibrillator pads to be applied. On doing so it was apparent he had a stab wound to his chest.”

She said paramedic Oliver Wheeler described the wound as being 3 inches in length and 4 inches deep. It penetrated the skin and fat and was in the centre of his chest.

19-year-old Derrick was loaded onto a second ambulance that had been called to the scene and a second wound to his neck was discovered. It was about one inch in length and was deep.

The teenager, from Crescent Road, Luton, was pronounced dead at 21.11 on 14th April this year at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital, 52 minutes after the attack.

The prosecutor said either wound could have been fatal to Derrick, who was likely targeted because he was a drug dealer.

Three people deny murder. They are: a 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons; Shakeel Morton, 20, of Upwell Road, Luton and Malcolm Mangawa, 23, of Verde Close, Luton.

Ms Sumnall said a fourth person involved in the murder was an 17-year-old boy. He was not in the dock because, in the hours after the stabbing, the Luton youth caught a cab to Stanstead Airport and flew out of the country.

Opening the case, Ms Sumnall said Derrick Kinyua was a healthy young man who was a month shy of his 20th birthday.

When questioned, Morton gave the police a prepared statement saying he was not involved in the murder, saying he was asked to pick up some people as taxis were unavailable. He said he had no idea an altercation was going to take place. As soon as he sensed the situation, he said he diverted himself away.

Mangawa said he had gone with his friend Shakeel to get food in Stopsley and said he had no knowledge of any attack. The 17 year old did not answer questions or provide a statement.

Case proceeding