JOHNSON: FATHER GAVE KNIFE TO HIS BABY SON TO JOIN ATTACK
A teenage dad accused of forcing a girl to strip naked in a park gave a penknife to his baby son and told him to ‘get her’, a court heard today (Weds).
Dannielo Johnson, 18, was part of a gang who took the 16-year-old hostage over an unpaid debt, whipped her with a belt and locked her in a cupboard, it is said.
She was then taken to Crystal Palace Park where she was ordered to remove her clothes while
Victoria Beckford, 27, and Siobhan Vaughan, 29, allegedly photographed her with their mobile phones.
The girl’s mother was later contacted by friends and family who saw nude shots on her Facebook page, Inner London Crown Court has heard.
The teenage girl had been lured to a flat in Ferndale Road, Brixton, southwest London, on the pretence that she was going to have the braids removed from her hair.
Johnson was waiting with Antonio Williams, 18, and locked the girl in a cupboard, before jabbing the blade of a ‘pocket knife’, through the crack between its doors.
He then allegedly released her before flogging her with a leather belt.
Cross-examining the girl, who is giving evidence from behind a curtain, Laurence Kench, defending Johnson, questioned the involvement of the baby boy in her ordeal.
Mr Kench said: ‘You told us that he gave the knife to the baby and told his one-year-old son to “come and get you”.
The girl replied: ‘Yeah, it was the same knife from earlier.’
Mr Kench asked: ‘How did he give it to his one-year-old?’
‘He just gave it to him, handle first, and he walked towards me holding the knife,’ she said.
The barrister accused her of lying to the jury about Johnson’s involvement and suggested she could have called 999 on her mobile or shouted for help.
‘You have been giving evidence in this court that isn’t right,’ he said.
‘The way in which events unfolded is different from the way you have described them to the court.
‘You did go to the address in Ferndale Road – in order for your hair to be done – and there was some discussion about money that was owed.
‘I suggest that your claim that Dannielo tied you up or searched you is simply not true and he didn’t do anything of the sort and, in fact, didn’t do anything aggressive towards you whatsoever.’
She replied: ‘It is true.’
Prosecutors allege Sian Roberts, 24, arranged the attack on August 14 last year to punish her 16-year-old former friend for failing to repay a £100 debt.
After the incident at the house, Roberts drove the girl to a ‘poorly lit’ corner of Crystal Palace Park along with Vaughan, Beckford and a 17-year-old boy.
Vaughan and Beckford allegedly forced the girl to strip naked and photographed her on their mobile phones.
Police later recovered a deleted copy of the photograph on Antonio Williams’ phone, which had been saved at 8.58pm.
Johnson, of no fixed address, Williams, of London Road, Thornton Heath, Roberts, of Churchdown Road, Bromley, Beckford, of Hawke Road, Gypsy Hill, Vaughan, of Menlo Gardens, Croydon, and the 17-year-old, of West Norwood, all deny false imprisonment.
Roberts, Beckford, Vaughan, Williams and the 17-year-old also deny one count of making an indecent image of a child.
The trial continues.
ends
