Joe, 16, stabbed at least four times murder jury hears
WOUND TO TEENAGER’S CHEST HAD PIERCED HIS HEART
A 16-year-old boy was stabbed at least four times by an alleged “small-time drug dealer” in the early hours of Boxing Day, a jury has heard.
Jake Rollinson, 20, of Hickings Lane, Stapleford, went on trial at Nottingham Crown Court yesterday accused of the murder of Joseph Whitchurch.
Rollinson denies the murder charge but has pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice after providing false accounts to a 999 call operator and police after the killing.
By 5.15am on the morning of Boxing Day, Joseph – referred to in court as Joe – was allegedly slumped in the kitchen of the property where Rollinson lives in Hickings Lane, the jury heard.
He was barely conscious and he was haemorrhaging blood at a terrifying rate, the jury heard. Blood was described as “spurting” from his leg and he had a stab wound to the chest which was to prove fatal.
The chest wound had pierced his heart and caused it to stop, resulting in his brain being deprived of oxygen.
“And that was disastrous for Joe Whitchurch’s chances of survival at that stage,” said James Hines QC, prosecuting.
At 5.22am, Lorna Richardson, the defendant’s girlfriend, called 999 from the kitchen.
She used Rollinson’s phone and he was allegedly by her side when she called.
She immediately described Joe’s physical condition to the call handler: “He’s been hurt really bad, he’s breathing really bad, he’s really white, his eyes are in the back of his head”.
Mr Hines said: “He was obviously relatively near death even at that stage”.
In the 999 call, the first thing she said about how it happened was “a lie, she suggested that the incident hadn’t happened at the house but somewhere else”, added Mr Hines.
She said: “I think he’s been stabbed... we don’t know what’s happened, we don’t know what’s happened, he just run to us, tell her” (she then hands the phone over to Jake Rollinson to continue the call with the call handler).
Mr Hines said: “Significantly, Jake Rollinson continued with the same lying account that Lorna had started”.
The call handler asked: “Did you say ‘he’s been stabbed?’”
The reply was “I don’t know, I don’t know... I think, yes”.
When asked, when did this happen?, the reply was “I don’t know”.
Rollinson and Richardson, 25, of Blake Road in Stapleford, were charged with perverting the course of justice and have both pleaded guilty to that charge.
Mr Hines said to the jury: “The question for you in relation to the indictment is why did they need to tell those lies? Why was that false account cooked up that morning?
“The answer, say the prosecution, is that the truth was that the defendant had just murdered Joe Whitchurch and they couldn’t tell the truth, so they lied”.
Joe was well-known to Rollinson who was said to have used him in connection with his dealing.
Mr Hines said Rollinson was “a small-time drug dealer in the Stapleford area who dealt in cannabis and cocaine”.
The relationship between them was “not straightforward”.
“Joe himself took drugs (supplied by Jake) and also assisted Jake with his drug dealing,” said Mr Hines.
“On one level Joe and Jake were friends, and Joe Whitchurch looked up to 20-year-old Jake Rollinson.
“But on another level, young Joe was scared of Jake, and he was threatened and bullied by Jake Rollinson. It was certainly not a relationship of equals between the two men.
“It was not a healthy relationship, certainly not healthy for Joe Whitchurch, and members of his close family had warned him specifically about continuing to befriend Jake Rollinson.”
Mr Hines told the jury: “In the weeks before Christmas, through their involvement with drugs, Joe owed money to Jake Rollinson - it was a debt of £40, it seems.”
Rollinson allegedly made demands for repayment with threats attached, for example, to burn his mother’s house down, if he didn’t come up with the money, the jury heard.
Mr Hines said: “Thank goodness Joe was able to persuade his brother to lend him that £40. His brother transferred the money to Jake Rollinson”.
The trial continues