Youth acquitted of murder
Sonn Macmillan Walker acted for a 16 year old defendant charged with murder. The case went to trial at Isleworth Crown Court in July 2015 and resulted in the jury finding the defendant not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter in the alternative.
Our client accepted that he had stabbed the deceased once in the leg which had caused his death, but had claimed that he had been acting in self defence at the time. The defence case was that that the defendant had no option but to use the force that he did because the deceased had tried to rob him whilst in company with another who had also produced a knife to threaten the defendant. In order to be guilty of murder, the prosecution had to prove that the defendant had used unlawful force by stabbing the deceased and furthermore that he had intended to cause really serious harm in doing so. The defendant was represented by Anthony Metzer QC and Paul Lazarus, both assisted by Aysha Moore who was the solicitor in the case. The not guilty verdict on the charge of murder was a significant victory, reflecting the skilful work undertaken by the defence team in demonstrating that the defendant had not intended to cause really serious harm despite the nature of the wound and the method of causing injury.
