IDIABETA:’I WASN’T HOLDING A KNIFE BEHIND MY BACK – I WAS HOLDING MY TROUSERS UP.’

A teenager accused of stabbing a 17 year-old student to death during a gangland feud told jurors the killing was carried out by a man he named only as ‘X’.

Nelson Idiabeta, 18, admitted he was present when Kwame Ofosu-Asare was knifed 14 times in the street in Brixton, south London..

He claimed he shouted to ‘X’ to stop but didn’t intervene because he feared being injured himself.

Idiabeta said ‘X’ – who the prosecution claim is Nathaniel Okusanya, 19 – then ran off leaving Kwame to bleed to death.

He told jurors: ‘I just stood and looked at him [Kwame] in shock and thought ”What have I got myself into?”‘

Idiabeta denied prosecution claims that he attacked the victim as part of a feud between the TN1 gang from Tulse Hill and the Brixton-based GAS gang.

‘I’m not linked to no gang. I’m not part of no gang,’ he said.

Jurors have heard that Kwame was attacked after being mistaken for a member of the GAS gang.

Hours earlier a member of TN1 was stabbed 28 times by a member of GAS on a bus in West Norwood, south London.

Idiabeta denied he went to the hospital to visit the victim of that attack and claimed he was actually seeing someone else who had been robbed.

He said he met ‘X’ on his way out and agreed to travel with him to Brixton in south London to help ‘sort out’ a problem on the Moorlands Estate.

‘He said he felt safer if he was with me because I grew up there. He pleaded with me so I could find out what’s going on and he never wanted to be targeted in future.

‘I didn’t really understand what he meant. He told me he needs to sort out what’s going on in the Moorlands Estate because people might want to hurt him.

‘He told me he needed a knife for protection and he was scared.’

CCTV footage shows Idiabeta running after Kwame and another youth towards Adelaide Close in Brixton at around 5.30pm on March 2 this year.

Idiabeta denied he was armed with a knife and told the court that the reason his hand was behind his back was because his trousers were falling down.

He told the court: ‘When we got there he [Kwame] was standing in the middle of the road. I said to him ”What are you running for, where’s your friend?’

‘I just wanted to speak to him to ask him what was going on. He appeared to be shocked. His facial expression changed at that point.

‘It all happened in a flash. X ran from behind and just started going for him.

‘I was scared because I was quite confused myself. This was not supposed to happen. I was scared in case he stabbed me as well, so I didn’t touch him.

‘Kwame fell to the floor and X went on top of him, bending down over him.’

Idiabeta said he saw Kwame’s jacket was ripped but denied seeing any blood.

He added: ‘I did not think he was going to pass away.’

CCTV footage shows Idiabeta was first into the cul-de-sac after Kwame and the last to leave.

The court has heard Kwame’s friend managed to climb over a wall and escape without injury. Neighbours came out and attempted to give first aid but Kwame bled to death at the scene.

Okusanya, of (11) Vibart Gardens, Brixton, and Idiabeta, of Camberwell, both deny murder.

The trial continues.

ends