Kennie’s pal ‘screamed for help’ on finding him ‘in pool of blood’

A FRIEND of Kennie Carter told a murder trial how he ‘screamed for help’ after discovering his pal ‘face down’ in a ‘pool of blood.’

The 16-year-old died after being stabbed in Stretford, Trafford, on January 22, 2022.

Ten teenagers are standing trial at Manchester Crown Court accused of murder. Jabriel Ferguson, 19, of School Walk, Old Trafford; Latif Ferguson, 18, of the same address and Rashaun Williams, 18, from Staffordshire; all deny murder and manslaughter. Seven other boys – all under 18 – all deny the same offences.

They cannot be named for legal reasons.

Kennie was allegedly murdered in ‘revenge’ following an ‘incident’ the day before.

A ‘close friend’ of Kennie said he’d spoken to him earlier on January 22 and told how they’d arranged to attend the Trafford Centre together that day. He said that at about 6.35pm he received a call from Kennie, who ‘sounded stressed.’

“It almost sounded like he was breathing heavy, like he was trying to calm himself down,” the witness said.

“I knew Kennie was with other people. I told Kennie to keep the door locked, stay in, don’t go out, keep the door locked. I’ve gone out of the house as I needed to find out what was going on. I didn’t want to go around, but I knew something bad was going to happen due to the way that he was being on the phone.”

The witness then said he went out and saw a ‘male lay down’ in the street. “I was in shock,” he said. “I have screamed for help.

“I was trying to work out who it was, but he was face down. I was shaking him to see if I could wake him up. I’ve seen a pool of blood.

“I’ve then seen people running towards me. I didn’t know who they were. I realised it was Kennie lay on the floor. I remember saying ‘I need a towel, I need a tourniquet,’ anything I can use.” Jurors also heard a statement from Sonnie Carter, Kennie’s brother. He said that he had been told there had been an ‘ongoing issue’ the previous day, ‘with two of the younger kids in Kennie’s group that had a fight with some kids.’

He understood that Kennie was with pals at a flat in Stretford.

Sonnie said he decided to call his brother to ‘warn’ him. “I told him that there were pure kids coming down,” he said.

“They started to panic,” the witness said. “I told him he didn’t want to be there as it was going to go off.”

Sonnie said he was on the phone with his brother on loudspeaker and understood that he had left the flat.

He said: “At this point I thought ‘sweet,’ that he was okay. He sounded calm. But then I heard a male saying ‘yo, you’re the one that backed that pole.’ I could hear the fear in Kennie’s voice. He says ‘nah, nah, that wasn’t

Kennie Carter

me bro.’ But then the phone went mute and I couldn’t hear anything. I started to panic.”

Sonnie said he then went to look for Kennie. He said: “At first I thought nah, that’s not my brother. But then I noticed his shoes.

“Because his head was down to the floor and his hood covered his face, I couldn’t see who it was. I lifted the hood up and saw it was Kennie.”

● Proceeding