A 14-year-old boy shouted “I’m going to wet you” before stabbing another teenage boy in the chest and later seemed happy that he had done it, a jury has heard.
The victim was 14-year-old Tomasz Oleszak, a boy unknown to his killer. The term “wet you” was slang for “stab you”, prosecutor Mark McKone KC told Newcastle crown court.
The defendant, now 15 and who cannot be identified for legal reasons, denies murder and will claim he was acting in self-defence.
He also denies attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent to a different boy. The prosecution alleged the defendant went to stab the other boy, who stepped back and ended up with a slashed coat in the chest area.
The trouble flared after the defendant and his girlfriend came across a larger group of teenagers in Whitehills nature park in Gateshead in October last year. The defendant had left home armed with a knife, the jury heard. He was accused of giving the youths “a dirty look”.
McKone said the prosecution accepted that someone said they were then going to hit the defendant.
Tomasz joined the group at a late stage, McKone said, and approached the defendant, who took out a knife and fatally stabbed him. The fatal wound above Tomasz’s heart was 8cm deep and 4.5cm wide.
One of the youths told police they heard the defendant shout: “I’m going to wet you!”
“The prosecution say that the phrase ‘I’m going to wet you’ is the phrase of someone wanting to stab someone and not the words of someone reluctantly acting in self-defence.” McKone said.
Another witness told the police: “I didn’t see it because I was at the back, but I heard someone shout ‘Your boy’s been wetted’ – it means ‘Your boy has been stabbed.’”
The jury will hear evidence from another juvenile witness who told police the defendant admitted stabbing Tomasz and that he seemed pleased about it. McKone said the witness said the defendant was “bouncing all over. He seemed happy that he had done it, he looked like himself, it didn’t faze him at all”.
The prosecution said the defendant would claim he was punched, kicked and knocked to the floor. The crown did not accept that version of events, McKone said.
The jury will hear evidence that the defendant contacted his girlfriend and told her: “If anyone messages you, say nothing, don’t say what’s apparently happened.”
During three police interviews the defendant answered questions with “no comment”, McKone said.
The defendant appeared in the dock with an intermediary. The judge, Mr Justice Martin Spencer, and the barristers appeared without their wigs and in normal dress because of the age of the defendant and the witnesses who are expected to give evidence.
The defendant had previously admitted carrying a blade, the jury heard.
The trial continues and is expected to take 10 days.
