Blackpool man Kris Kam suffered three stab wounds to his legs, pathologist tells jurors in murder trial

Dr Alison Armour, a Home Office pathologist based at the Royal Preston Hospital, gave evidence at the trial of four men accused of murdering Blackpool man Kris Kam.

The 35-year-old died in the Blackpool Victoria Hospital at around 8.24pm on Sunday, October 27, 2019 - the day after he was set upon on Queen Victoria Road, Blackpool, close to the junction with Levens Grove, Blackpool.

Christopher Carrington, 26, of no fixed address, Shaquille Cumberbatch, 27, of Montrose Avenue, Edgware, London, Kevin Gracia, 26, of Hilltop Avenue, London, and Munochismo Eriken, 28, of South Green, London, deny his murder and are on trial at Preston Crown Court.

Preston Crown Court heard a post mortem examination took place on October 29.

Ms Armour said: " This man was the victim of a violent assault. The injuries he sustained were a result of sharp force and blunt force trauma.

"The sharp force consisted of three separate stab wounds to the legs, with bruises and abrasions resulting from blunt impact trauma, some of which were caused during the fatal assault and others due to contact with the ground."

Reading part of her statement she added: "This man was seriously injured at the scene with blood gushing from his leg. People came to the the scene to assist and attempts were made to lessen the blood loss.

"The police and ambulance service arrived and this man was taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital.

"He suffered a cardiac arrest which meant his heart stopped beating. Resuscitation was attempted and was successful.

"He was taken immediately to theatre where a completely severed popliteal artery was repaired with an end-to-end anastomosis where the severed ends are sutured back together.

"Despite this and medical interventions along with transfusions of many units of blood this man died approximately 33 hours after the incident."

She told the jury she had found two stab wounds to Mr Kam's left leg and one to the right leg.

The fatal wound was identified at the back of his lower thigh in the knee area. It ran around 8cm deep, and was 2cm long but had been extended to around 9cm by the surgeons as they tried to repair it.

She added the wound was "consistent with a deliberate thrusting type motion with a bladed instrument, for example a knife."

Prosecuting, Peter Reid QC asked her to look at a picture of a knife recovered from the toilet at a flat on Central Drive linked to the defendants and asked if it could have caused the injury.

She replied: " Yes sir it could."

The court heard the second wound was around 4cm wide and 10cm deep and damaged skeletal muscles and subcutaneous tissue in the thigh, but would not have proved fatal on its own.

A third wound to Mr Kam's right thigh was 2.4cm long and ran 5cm deep, again damaging skeletal muscles and subcutaneous tissue.

(proceeding)

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