A teenager boy posted a video of the 63-year-old man he had just stabbed on Snapchat, a murder trial jury was on Monday, April 25, 2022.
The 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, uploaded six or seven seconds of footage from his mobile phone of fatally-wounded Bolton-man Ghulam Raja (pictured left), it was alleged.
Prosecutor Sarah Morris told Luton Crown Court that before the attack the teenager was heard to shout: “I am going to kill him.”
She said he stabbed Mr Raja four times with a kitchen knife, once to the front right thigh, once to the neck and twice to the head.
“One wound entered the brain and caused a catastrophic fatal injury.
“The victim lay down a bed and was bleeding very heavily. The defendant took a short video on his mobile phone. It was six or seven seconds long and was uploaded to the social media site Snapchat,” she said.
Ms Morris went on: “He is a young man who is revelling in the fact he has just stabbed the man and wants to broadcast that on social media. He wants others to see it and he is hyped up.”
The jury of seven women and five men was told that after the stabbing the teenager rang 999. He told the operator there had been a murder and said he was the offender.
When he was asked what he had used he said: “ A knife innit, what do you think? I dun it in self-defence though. He tried attacking me so I took a knife and stabbed him in the head.”
Ms Morris said when the youth was examined at the police station, apart from a small mark on his right arm, there was not a single injury.
Ms Morris said: “Whatever happened at the address, only he (the defendant) was armed with a knife and only he had a weapon.”
Police officers arrived in Dorrington Close, Luton drew out Tasers and told the boy to come out. The boy opened the door and was told to slowly come out. He was told to get on the floor and drop his phone.
He complied and was arrested for attempted murder. At the police station he answered no comment to questions.
Father-of-two Mr Raja of Wentworth Avenue, Bolton had travelled with his wife and daughter to Luton on Monday, November 15, 2021 last year to visit his mother.
They arrived in a white Range Rover at around 3.37pm in the afternoon and a dispute broke out.
Mr Raja lost a lot of blood and was taken by land ambulance to the Luton and Dunstable Hospital. He was given a CT scan which showed significant brain injuries. He was transferred to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge where he died on Saturday, November 20.
At the start of the trial the judge Mr Justice John Cavanagh told the jury that the 16-year-old boy accepts he inflicted the injuries.
He said the boy’s case was that he is not guilty of murder for two reasons: that he was acting in self defence or defence or another person; and in any event did not intend to kill or cause Mr Raja really serious injury.
The teenager pleads not guilty to murdering Mr Raja between 15 and 20 November last year.
The trial is expected to last around two weeks.
Case proceeding
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