I didn’t even know he had been stabbed – accused
A TEENAGER accused of murdering a drugs runner accepts stabbing him but says he did it because the man pulled a knife on him first.
Kalib Facey denies murdering 39-year-old Damian Hill with a knife in the early hours of May 27 and is on trial at Cardiff Crown Court.
His barrister Nadine Radford QC asked: “Did you at any stage intend to kill him? Did you intend to really seriously hurt him?”
Facey told the court he did not, adding he was acting in fear and did not even realise Mr Hill had been hurt during the clash in Oakfield Street in Roath, Cardiff.
Giving evidence from the witness box, the 19-year-old said he did not know his co-defendant Philomena McDonagh before that night.
He said he was on the way to meet his younger brother when he encountered her on Black Bridge and, taking her to be a user, thought she might be able to help him get drugs.
Facey told the court he did not know her friend Titus Dutt – who he is accused of robbing – either but described him as “sound”.
McDonagh alleged he swung at her with a mirror before striking Mr Dutt with it but Facey said it never happened.
Ms Radford asked: “Was there any violence used by you towards either of them?” He replied: “No violence whatsoever, no.”
He also denied putting a knife into Mr Dutt’s mouth, adding he never touched a knife while he was in the flat.
Facey denied “constantly” asking them for money and stealing diazepam tablets from McDonagh, claiming he only took two because she had offered them.
He said McDonagh wanted more drugs so she called the “Monkey Line” and arranged to meet a runner. He denied putting any pressure on her to do so.
The defendant said: “He [Mr Dutt] gave his bank cards to Philomena with his pin number on a piece of paper.”
He told the court she passed him the bank cards to put into the cash machine but it made no difference to him when they realised it was the wrong pin.
Facey said McDonagh asked him along to meet the runner and he went because he thought she might share her drugs with him. He said he knew she was going to buy drugs but he did not know who from. He said he sat on a wall by the YMCA waiting and knew there was CCTV there.
The defendant said he heard an argument between McDonagh and the runner but wanted nothing to do with it.
Ms Radford asked: “The Crown suggest you had a knife on you. Did you have a knife on you?” Facey said he did not.
He told the court the runner saw him and shouted: “What the f*** is going on?”
Facey added: “He instantly went for the knife. My reaction was to get hold of his hand as tight as I could.”
Asked if he had considered running away, he replied he had been stabbed before while trying to run away.
He said: “I was scared. He was trying to stab me. I had hold of his wrist and elbow. I put everything I had into it and the knife fell to the floor. For a minute I couldn’t see it. We were both looking for it. I bent over to pick it up.”
He said McDonagh was looking for the drugs while he held the knife out, intending to just scare the runner.
Facey said he was feeling “anxious” and never wanted to stab anyone.
He added: “He had me in a bear hug. I still had the knife in my hand. He was calling for help and I didn’t know who he was calling. I was scared. I hit him with the knife to the back.”
Asked why, he replied: “Just to try and get him away. I did not even know at the time he had been stabbed.”
Facey said he got away after Mr Hill ran off and threw the knife down a drain at the suggestion of a friend.
He told the court he later saw police tape at the scene and “panicked”.
The defendant said he found out the next day that Mr Hill had died.
He said: “I felt sick. I felt that my world had ended. Even now it just does not seem real to me. I have not accepted it.”
The teenager said he went to his mother’s house but she was not in so he went to his nan’s house to sleep.
Facey and McDonagh, 35, who do not have fixed addresses, deny robbery and murder.
The trial continues.