A man on trial for murder after stabbing a friend in the armpit has told a jury he acted out of “instinct” when he feared being hit with a hammer.
Giving evidence at Maidstone Crown Court today (Tuesday), Mark Jesse demonstrated how Charlie Belsham suffered the fatal wound as the pair faced each other in the basement of the property they shared in Castle Road, Chatham.
Describing Mr Belsham as “swinging” the tool, Jesse revealed he took a step back with his left leg, raised his left arm across his face with the palm of his hand facing out and then moved his right arm up and round.
At the time, he was holding a 10in knife he had picked up from the kitchen just moments earlier.
Asked by his lawyer, Paul Jackson, why he had acted in that way, the accused replied: “To stop the blow with the hammer and just as a reaction. It had happened so quick.”
As to his intention, Jesse said: “There was really no intention. It was just instinct.”
But he told jurors that although he left the house “in panic and disbelief” - taking both the knife and hammer with him – he did not know in that moment that he had stabbed Mr Belsham.
Jesse said it was only when he saw blood on the blade that he thought he must have “caught him” – and was “gutted” when he discovered the following day that the 43-year-old had died.
Explaining why he felt that way, he told the jury: “That he has lost his life. He was my friend. I knew I was going to miss him.”
Jesse denies both murder and manslaughter, claiming he acted in self-defence during the confrontation on the morning of November 1 last year.
Also in the dock and facing the same charges is Shane Rule, 41, of no fixed address.
The prosecution alleges that the pair acted in “joint enterprise” with Rule “assisting or encouraging” his co-defendant in the act of stabbing the victim.
The court heard the knife penetrated 18cm deep into Mr Belsham’s chest, slicing through a rib and cutting the aorta, causing immediate, catastrophic and fatal blood loss.
Police found him in the basement, lying facedown in a pool of blood. A Swiss Army multi-tool was underneath his body.
At the time of his death, Mr Belsham had been staying in the room with another resident, Ilir Meta, while Jesse, an official and long-standing tenant, lived on the first floor.
Jesse told the jury he “liked” Mr Belsham and had “no problem at all” with him.
In the hours leading up to the alleged murder – which the prosecution claims was “pitifully” motivated by a row over £10 owed for a phone purchase – a number of people had gathered at the house, drinking and taking drugs.
Among them was Ashley Robinson, whom Jesse had known for 20 years.
The 41-year-old, of Meadow Bank, Chatham, is also on trial, accused of assisting an offender.
It is alleged he drove Jesse and Rule away from the alleged murder scene and attempted to wipe the vehicle of evidence.
The jury was told it was Robinson who had purportedly sold his Redmi A3 phone to Mr Belsham, with violence erupting shortly after he demanded £10 in payment.
Giving his account on that fateful morning to the court, Jesse said his pal was out of the room for about four to five minutes before returning “irate”, saying he had just had a fight with Mr Belsham and been hit with a hammer.
Jesse said he then went downstairs, pausing at the kitchen on the ground floor to pick up a knife that was on top of the fridge freezer.
Although he later admitted he wanted to “have it out” with Mr Belsham, he denied he intended any violence.
Explaining, however, why he had collected a knife, Jesse told the court: “I was going to try and find out what was going on between them two, and I didn’t know what I was going to be walking into.
“I was on my own, so I was worried.”
Asked what he intended to do with the knife, Jesse, a carpenter by trade, replied: “Defend myself.”
He denied Mr Meta’s allegation that he already had the knife when he left his room, and told jurors that as he approached the basement, he held it in his right hand down by his side.
But he said that as he reached the lower level, Mr Belsham slowly came out of his room into the small hallway area, holding “something metal” in his right hand and a hammer in the other.
He told the court before he had a chance to say anything, Mr Belsham remarked: “If you are going to pull that, you’ll be best to use it”.
Jesse said he then saw Rule, who was on the stairs, lean over and tap Mr Belsham on his forehead.
Describing how events developed, Jesse told jurors: “He [Mr Belsham] was swinging his left arm towards me and coming towards me at the same time. With the hammer.”
Asked what went through his mind, he continued: “S***. F***. What’s going on? I was going to be hit with the hammer.”
It was then that Jesse demonstrated to the court his reaction to Mr Belsham, describing it as “extremely quick”.
“If you had not done that, what did you fear would happen?” asked Mr Jackson.
“That I was going to get hit with the hammer,” said the defendant.
Questioned about the effect his action had on Mr Belsham, Jesse replied: “My eyes were kind of shut for a second or so.
“The next thing I’ve looked and Charlie has gone to one knee. He has gone down onto his left knee.”
“Did you know at the time you had stabbed Mr Belsham?” asked his lawyer.
“No, no. Within half a second, he has come back to his feet, turned left and gone into the doorway [to the basement room],” answered Jesse.
He then described being “panicked, scared and in disbelief” and trying to “work out” what had happened.
Jesse told the court that he picked up the hammer – which he said came out of Mr Belsham’s hand – and went back up the stairs, putting it in the kitchen with the knife.
He then went to his room, collected his coat and bag, and left. On his way out, he retrieved the hammer and knife, “concealing” them in his jacket.
With Jesse’s co-defendants also leaving the property, all three left the area in a stolen Honda Jazz driven by Robinson.
Jesse told the court that while seated in the back of the car, he saw the blood on the knife and, in panic, threw it, along with the hammer, out of the moving vehicle’s window.
Asked by Mr Jackson why he had not called police or told them following his arrest that he had acted in self-defence, Jesse said: “I just didn’t think I was going to be believed.”
During cross-examination by Danny Moore KC, on behalf of Rule, Jesse agreed he had not said anything when he left his room on the top floor or knew anyone would follow him.
He also said he got the knife from the kitchen for his “safety” and had not intended to go downstairs and stab Mr Belsham.
But when Mr Moore said it was disputed Rule had tapped Mr Belsham on the head, Jesse maintained his account.
Jesse also refuted telling Rule “I didn’t push it [the knife] in that far” as they travelled in the car.
“I was scared…”
Jesse agreed when questioned by Robinson’s barrister, John FitzGerald KC, that he had however admitted to stabbing Mr Belsham shortly before they parked and left the Honda Jazz in Kingfisher Drive, Chatham.
In cross-examination by prosecutor John Cammegh KC, Jesse was taken through the “squandered opportunities” he had to tell police over the course of four interviews that he was, as he states, “an apparently innocent man” who had acted in self-defence.
These included his lies that he had “heard rumours” about what happened at the house, had not seen Mr Belsham that fateful morning, did not know who killed him and had left the property on his own.
In response, Jesse repeatedly told the court he was “panicking”.
“Why not tell the police about self-defence?” asked Mr Cammegh.
“I didn’t think I would be believed,” the defendant replied.
Jesse also denied he had been trying to protect himself or his two co-accused.
“I was scared,” he replied.
The trial continues.
