Ramarni Crosby: Teen denies his knife caused fatal wound in Gloucester attack

A teenager accused of murder has denied it was his knife that caused the fatal wound, a court has heard.

Ramarni Crosby, 16, was fatally stabbed in Gloucester on 15 December 2021.

The 17-year-old defendant, who can not be named, admitted to carrying a knife but said he would not have used it.

Dean Smith, 20, Levi Cameron, 18, Callum Charles-Quebella, 18, three 17-year-olds and two 16-year-olds are all accused of Ramarni's murder on Stratton Road in the Barton area.

They are on trial at Bristol Crown Court.

All eight deny murder, and seven deny a lesser charge of manslaughter - only Mr Charles-Quebella has admitted this count.

A ninth defendant, Keishaleigh Margrett-Whitter, 20, of Lyncroft Road, Tyseley, Birmingham, faces two counts of assisting an offender, which she denies.

During the trial, prosecutor Adam Vaitilingam KC, said the 17-year-old defendant got rid of the knife and his phone after the attack.

Under cross examination, the defendant denied the comment and told the jury someone had later taken the knife without his knowledge.

"I don't know how the knife disappeared. The knife was in my pocket," he said.

"When I left it was not there anymore, so someone's taken it into their own hands to deal with it.

"I told the people who were there what I'd seen and what had happened and that's probably why they've taken my stuff without telling me."

Mr Vaitilingam KC then asked why his phone had disappeared and suggested he had gotten rid of it because it incriminated him.

"Somebody said give me your phone and I gave it to them," the teen told the jury.

"I didn't know what to do. I didn't get rid of my knife, phone, anything."

Mr Charles-Quebella, who has already admitted manslaughter in the case, told the jury that he often carried knives because he knew a lot of people he had problems with and wanted to protect himself but would never use it.

He was asked by his barrister, Peter Finnigan KC, why he wanted to get hold of a machete in the weeks running up to the attack.

Mr Charles-Quebella told the jury he had seen people in drill music videos with them "looking scary" and he wanted to be like that too.

The trial, which is expected to last six weeks, continues.

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