A man has told a jury that he fatally beat a teenager "to defend a 14-year-old kid from being stabbed to death".
Keiron Williams is one of nine defendants currently on trial accused of murdering Michael Toohey at an internet café in Liverpool city centre in the early evening of April 16 this year. The 18-year-old died after allegedly being chased into Mobiles Junction and Internet Café on Monument Place, off London Road, and battered by a gang who were "called in" by a 14-year-old boy.
Jurors previously heard that the deceased had been pressured into selling drugs by a man referred to as "Gerry", with the incident coming against the background of a "war" between rival dealers. But Williams claims that he raced to the scene after being told that Mr Toohey had threatened the youth with a knife, and that the teen had then brandished this weapon once he pursued him into the shop.
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The 28-year-old continued giving evidence under cross-examination by prosecutor Gordon Cole KC today, Monday. He told Liverpool Crown Court that he had received a phone call from his brother Anthony on the day in question to say "Mr Toohey has got the boy with a knife on London Road" and that he then headed to the location "to defend him from being stabbed to death".
Williams said: "I got straight to his aid before he was stabbed to death. I was maybe a minute, two minutes away from him.
"It was the fastest thing to do, to head there as fast as I could. I had to defend him before we saw another kid stabbed to death in the city.
"I didn't want to lose another child in this city again. We've lost too many kids to knife crime in this city.
"It's children isn't it, at the end of the day? These are only babies aren't they?"
Mr Cole said to Williams that "one of them was actually killed by your actions". But he replied: "He weren't killed by my actions.
"I just had to get there to make sure he was ok. To make sure that he's not injured."
Mr Cole suggested that Mr Toohey was "trying to escape from you", to which Williams responded: "I just followed Mr Toohey. He's seen me and I went after him, I followed him."
Williams said that he was told the boy was threatened by Mr Toohey when he was "coming down Greek Street". The jury was then played CCTV footage of the youth walking in this area before entering the Tesco Express on Monument Place.
Mr Cole said the clip showed him as "quite calm" before entering the store and purchasing an item. But Williams said he was "scared for his life", adding: "I know why I went there that day was to defend a 14-year-old kid from being stabbed to death with that knife."
Inside the internet cafe, the barrister suggested that there was a "standoff" while the two-time convicted drug dealer waited for his co-defendants to arrive. But the dad said: "Definitely not, I was talking to Mr Toohey.
"I was arguing with him, raised voices. 'Leave the kid, you need to stop bullying kids'.
"He was standing there with his hands down his pants. He was just standing, looking at me."
Williams said he "would never threaten to kill him", and followed Mr Toohey into a back room "to confront him". He said: "He wouldn't answer my questions, so I followed him into the back.
"That's when he pulled the knife. He wouldn't give me the answers.
"I remember saying, why did you pull a knife out? He weren't really giving much answers, he never said nothing really.
"He needs to stop pulling knives out on children, that's why. It's a Saturday afternoon and he's out with a knife.
"That's why I've gone, to say why are you doing this? I never left my house that day to hit anyone or go and cause harm to anyone."
Mr Cole said that Mr Toohey was retreating into the staff only area "trying to escape", but Williams - of no fixed address but previously of Grieve Road in Fazakerley - responded: "Was he luring me into the back room to stab me? We don't know, do we?
"He's turned round and he's produced his knife. I've hit him once.
"He's on the floor. I just felt him grabbing at the bottom of my leg.
"I thought it was the knife, I'd just seen it in his hand. So I stamped down.
"It was pitch black. It was very dark in there."
Mr Cole said that Mr Toohey sustained in the region of 35 injuries, whereas Williams "did not sustain any stab wound or any injury". But he replied: "I didn't give him the time to stab me."
Keiron Williams, the 14-year-old - who cannot be identified for legal reasons - and 32-year-old Anthony Williams, of Hillbrook Drive in Walton, deny murder and manslaughter. Another brother - 24-year-old Michael Williams, of Carlake Grove in Walton - as well as 33-year-old Steven McInerney, of Bridport Street in the city centre, 21-year-old Callum Hewell, of Stratton Road in Kirkby, 25-year-old Matthew Wynn, of Mosslawn Road in Kirkby, 20-year-old Jack Knox, of Oakdale Close in Kirkby, and 26-year-old David Shelley, of Chiltern Drive in Kirkby have pleaded not guilty to the same charges and the case continues.
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