Kentish Express Ashford & District
Party stabbing: Jury retires
A party host cleaned up a crime scene with bleach after a guest was stabbed in a row over drugs and a joke about designer clothes, a court heard.
Owen Lane, 22, is alleged to have grabbed a carving knife from a block at the house in Ashford and thrust it into Rotimi Edwards with such force it went right through his body.
Josh Hyde, who lived at the house in Lakemead, Singleton, with his girlfriend Amy Revell, said he spoke to a 999 operator for some time as Mr Edwards bled from his wound.
He said he could not remember being told not to destroy any evidence, but accepted he was.
Lane’s lawyer Abigail Penny told him: “You filled up your bucket with bleach and water and wiped away forensic evidence on the counters.
“You wiped the floor where footprints might have been showing where people stood. You cleared blood that was all over the kitchen.”
Mr Hyde replied: “I didn’t clear all of it. The police didn’t get there for about 45 minutes. If I wanted to clear all of it, I could have.
“It wasn’t my intention to get rid of evidence. I was just cleaning up. My head was a mess – seeing someone dying right in front of my eyes. I wasn’t thinking straight.”
Mr Hyde admitted he had “drunk an awful lot” that evening and said he was about seven on a scale of one to 10 of inebriation.
A jury of seven women and five men has heard at Maidstone Crown Court that Mr Edwards, known as Tim or Timi, was left with life threatening injuries over a “minor disagreement”.
Prosecutor Dominic Connolly said the victim felt the blade go into his stomach with immense force.
He felt the blade twisting inside him and could see only the handle protruding from his stomach. Emergency surgery was carried out which saved his life.
Lane is alleged to have lashed out with the weapon after Mr Edwards accused him of stealing his cocaine.
Mr Edwards, from London, said he believed he had been stabbed also because he made a joke, telling Lane: “What’s the point of stealing it when I am giving it away? It’s kinda like wearing Adidas and Nike together.
“Everybody laughed. He was obviously annoyed, to say the least.”
The blade lacerated his liver and exited out of his back. He needed extensive surgery including the removal of his gall bladder.
Mr Connolly said Lane ran from the house bare-chested because his top was ripped in a struggle with Mr Hyde’s girlfriend Amy Revell.
Owen, of Imperial Way, Ashford, denies attempted murder and an alternative charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
The jury in the trial was due to go out to consider its verdict as the KE went to press yesterday (Wednesday).