A man accused of murder was the intended target when a 16-year-old boy was stabbed to death, a court has heard.
Keiron Williams is one of nine defendants currently on trial accused of murdering Michael Toohey at an internet café in Liverpool city centre. The 28-year-old gave evidence from the witness box both yesterday and on Friday.
Jurors were told last week that he previously witnessed his friend Joseph Lappin being stabbed to death at Shrewsbury House, a youth club in Everton, in 2008. Williams said of this: "I guess I was present at the time, yeah.
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"He was at the door having a smoke and people came round the corner and stabbed him straight through the heart. I seen the blood squirting out of his heart as he come past me."
Williams, of no fixed address but previously of Grieve Road in Fazakerley added that the incident had a "big effect on him". Prosecutor Gordon Cole KC returned to Mr Lappin's death during his cross-examination on Monday, asking: "Who did he get mistaken for?"
The defendant responded "it could have been me". Mr Cole stated "this lad lost his life because somebody thought it was you", to which Williams replied: "That's correct."
The barrister said his nickname had been "Snagger" and read to the jury what the then youth had told police in the aftermath of the incident, saying: "They've come up yesterday looking for me. It should have been me who died, not that kid."
When asked why he had stated that Mr Lappin was his friend, Williams said: "It was 14 years ago. A lot has happened since then."
Mr Cole described the late teen as "some poor lad who was in the wrong place at the wrong time". Williams denied having been in a gang, but said he would "hang around with lads" from the Langsdale estate.
He had previously stated that Mr Lappin had been attacked by another group from the Scotland Road area. Williams added: "That was 14 years ago.
"I've had two children, been to prison, come out. I'm just a father to two kids, I've changed my life.
"I wasn't directly involved. I was around the gangs."
Mr Cole also asked of Williams' arrest in October 2012, when he was found with a "10-inch knife" after "somebody had robbed his phone". He said: "I can't remember what it was about, I'd just been attacked."
Mr Toohey, 18, 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 in the early evening of April 16 this year. The jury at Liverpool Crown Court 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. He denies murder and manslaughter.
Thirty-two-year-old Anthony Williams, of Hillbrook Drive in Walton, 24-year-old Michael Williams, of Carlake Grove in Walton, 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, 26-year-old David Shelley, of Chiltern Drive in Kirkby, and the 14-year-old - who cannot be identified for legal reasons - have also pleaded not guilty to the same charges. The trial continues.
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