Blackpool murder jury warned not to find defendant "guilty by association" as defence case is summed up

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 murdering Kris Kam and are on trial at Preston Crown Court.

Mr Kam, 35, 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.

It is alleged his attackers pulled up in a Volkswagen Golf, which they drove away in after the stabbing.

A post mortem examination showed he had suffered three separate stab wounds, one of which severed his popliteal artery.

A lawyer representing Christopher Carrington pointed out that the prosecution had said the likely murder weapon was a knife found in the toilet at a flat on Central Drive in the resort.

Broken up parts of phones had also been found in the same toilet, but none of them matched the mobile phones Mr Carrington had had.

He said: "Something you might want to think about is would it make a difference to you if you had a pretty good idea of who threw that knife down the toilet?

"The person who was responsible for that knife, the prosecution would have you believe, must be the one who used that knife."

Jurors were also reminded that whilst a tiny amount of blood, shown to be Mr Kam's, had been found on Carrington's trainers, the lawyer pointed out more of Mr Kam's blood was found on the door handle of the passenger seat behind the driver's seat, where co-defendant Gracia was said to be sitting.

In turn, Gracia's defence team argue that Gracia came into contact with Mr Kam for a "split second" as he pushed Mr Kam away in a bid to diffuse the situation, and that Mr Kam must have already been bleeding heavily.

Gracia's defence lawyer pointed out that during the prosecution's 90 minute closing speech, Gracia had featured in "less than five minutes of it".

Gracia did not give evidence in the trial and his lawyer suggested a lack of evidence had resulted in there having to be "very little challenge" by his legal team to the evidence presented.

He warned the jury against finding "guilt by association, which the law never permits" and added: "A careful, dispassionate and clinical approach to the case, which must be your approach, will point, we suggest, squarely to this young man's innocence."

(proceeding)

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