Not guilty of murder by reason of self defence
Sonn Macmillan Walker are delighted to have secured the acquittal of VV who was accused at the Old Bailey of murder by stabbing his step-father through the chest.
Police and ambulance staff were called to our client’s home where his step-father lay dying, having suffered a single stab wound to the heart. Our client was said to have made certain comments to police at the scene which he repeated in interview and subsequently retracted. Our client stated that the deceased came to the house in an agitated manner looking for his mother, the deceased’s ex-partner. When our client remonstrated with him the deceased threatened him with a knife. Our client, fearing that immediate and unlawful violence was about to be used against him or his mother, executed a martial arts self defence move that he had been taught previously. This ultimately led to the knife stabbing his step father. The prosecution did not accept our client’s account. The knife had penetrated the sternum and the prosecution said it was clear that he had used severe and intentional force to inflict the injury. The prosecution said that our client had lied to police and that it was clear that his account could not be believed. We instructed a pathologist who agreed that the manoeuvre in question might lead to the injury and who pointed out that the knife injury was upside down, supporting our client’s account. We also instructed one of the country’s leading martial arts experts who advised on the move our client described. We conducted extensive research into the background of our client including the use of a private enquiry agent to trace a potential witness.
The jury took only 2.5 hours to unanimously acquit our client. Tim Walker was the solicitor with conduct of the case. David Bentley QC led David Kitson at trial.
