Simon Johnson murder trial: 16-year-old lied about having knife
A 16-year-old youth hid the fact he had a knife when a man was murdered during a bungled burglary the address, a jury was told.
He blamed his co-accused, 19-year-old Damilola Johnson, for the fatal stabbing during a detailed interview with detectives, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
But he made not mention of being armed himself when 41-year-old window fitter Simon Johnson - no relation to the other defendant - was killed at the Cradley Road, Netherton home where he lived alone around 5.30am on August 11 last year, it was revealed.
The lie was uncovered as officers combed CCTV film footage from cameras in the area and built up a picture of the route taken to and from the address by the youth and another person, whom he said was Damilola Johnson.
The youth was seen pausing to lean over the garden wall of a house in nearby Durham Road shortly after the attack had taken place, it was said. When police checked they found two knives hidden in a bush at exactly the same spot, the court was told.
The youth, who had been remanded on bail pending further inquiries, was re interviewed in January this year, around two months after making his earlier statement.
Initially he maintained he could not remember why he leaned over the wall but after further questioning admitted taking one of the knives from the murder victim's home.
He has admitted stealing cannabis from the address twice earlier in the early hours of the same morning and told the court: "I remember taking the knife from the house on one of the earlier visits."
He also admitted being at the address moments before the murder was committed and stealing bank cards from the property but denied stabbing Mr Johnson.
He said he panicked after the incident and 'chucked' both the stolen credit cards and the knife but insisted the second knife found behind the wall - which came from the same batch at the victim's home - had not been put there by him. Neither was found to have any traces of blood.
Another knife from the house - blood stained and believed to have been the murder weapon - was discovered in the front garden of Mr Johnson's house.
He died six days after showing a drug farm at his home to an 18-year-old youth who told friends, triggering a series of thefts of cannabis plants from the grow by groups of teenagers after Mr Johnson locked the front door and went to bed during a visit by the first of these.
He told them to leave through the front window which was then left open and used by others to get in and out of the property during the following few hours. Several have admitted theft and burglary and been dealt with separately.
Damilola Johnson of no fixed address denies going to the house. Both he and the 16-year-old plead not guilty to murder and the case continues.
