Murder trial told: I'm sorry I stabbed teen

ACTION WAS IN SELF-DEFENCE, COURT HEARS, AS BOY WITH KNIFE CHASED MAN

- CARL JACKSON Court Reporter

A MAN who stabbed a 16-year-old boy to death has told the victim's parents he is sorry.

Ishmael Farquharson has accepted he delivered a fatal knife wound to Sekou Doucoure while they were 'wrestling' on the forecourt of Esso petrol station on Nursery Road, Newtown shortly after 6.30pm on July 12, 2022.

But the 34-year-old claimed he was also stabbed in the incident and feared for his own life. He denies murder on the basis of self-defence and has also pleaded not guilty to possessing an offensive weapon (a knife) as well as possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

The prosecution case is that Sekou was a member of the Get Round Der (GRD) gang from the B20 Handsworth Wood postcode, and that he was chased and killed for deliberately entering the enemy territory of B19 Newtown associated with rival gang 9Boyz.

Farquharson told Birmingham Crown Court that moments before the fatal attack he went to the Esso petrol station to look for his friend's son because she was worried about him.