Teen stabbed ‘in self-defence’
A 17-YEAR-OLD accused of killing a promising young footballer admitted stabbing him, but claimed he was acting in selfdefence.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies the culpable homicide of 16-year-old Luke Wallace in Baillieston, on June 17, last year. The High Court in Glasgow has heard that Luke suffered massive blood loss from a stab wound to his groin which cut his femoral artery and he died in hospital eight days later.
The 17-year-old was originally on trial accused of Luke’s murder, but at the end of the Crown case prosecutor Jane Farquharson withdrew the murder charge and replaced it with the reduced charge of culpable homicide.
The youth said that he was walking hand-in-hand with a teenage girl when he was approached by Luke and his friend Josh McFall, 18.
He told the jurors: “Luke had a big rock and Josh had a bit of wood. They walked up to us and shouted: ‘Where are you from?’ I was terrified.
“I thought I was going to get a serious doing. I just wanted to get away, but there was nowhere to run for safety.” He was asked by defence QC Gordon Jackson: “What happened next?” and replied: “Luke threw the rock and it hit me on the head. I screamed.
“I wanted to defend myself. I wanted to hit him back and I didn’t know where Josh was.
“I heard a knife drop and saw it. It was in the middle of a traffic island.”
He denied being armed and claimed that he and Luke both tried to grab the knife and added: “I got it and as I got up I poked him with the knife and then I ran.”
The trial continues.