Alfie Lewis murder accused 'sorry' but did not mean to kill boy - court

Alfie Lewis, 15, was stabbed in Horsforth, Leeds, on 7 November 2023, a trial has heard

A teenager accused of the fatal stabbing of a 15-year-old boy has said he was "sorry" for causing his death, but added he had not meant to kill him.

The teenager, who was 14 at the time, told Leeds Crown Court on Monday he had only wanted to "scare away" Alfie Lewis with a knife, "not inflict any pain".

Alfie was attacked on Church Road in Horsforth, Leeds, last November and died later in hospital.

The defendant, who cannot be named due to his age, denies Alfie's murder.

Answering questions from his defence barrister, Nicholas Lumley KC, the boy, now 15, said he had been in a fight in the summer involving Alfie in which the teenager had "stomped" on him.

He told the court that Alfie had also chased and threatened him on Halloween, a week before the incident in which the teenager was killed.

A post-mortem examination revealed Alfie had been stabbed in the chest and leg

The defendant told the jury that on 31 October he had been carrying some fireworks in a bag.

He said he had been on his way to meet a friend in Leeds city centre when he saw Alfie, who wanted to take the fireworks from him.

"I said, 'I can't give you the bag', and that's when he pulled up his hoodie top and said, 'give me the bag or something worse than last time's going to happen'.

"When he did that, I could see the handle of what I thought to be a weapon."

The defendant said that Alfie then started chasing him.

"As he was chasing me, he said, 'watch when I catch you, I'm going to kill you'."

The court heard that the defendant had taken a knife from the kitchen drawer at his home on 7 November.

The jury had previously been told that the handle of the knife which was used to stab Alfie had been painted black.

The defendant said it had been painted at a family barbecue which had taken place some months before.

When asked why he had chosen that knife, he said: "I thought it would be the least effective knife if anything was to happen because I only wanted to scare him away, not to inflict any pain."

The trial is taking place at Leeds Crown Court

He explained he had hidden the knife in his waistband between two pairs of trousers and on the day of the incident he had pulled the knife out from there because Alfie was "speed walking" towards him and he wanted to "scare him away".

The teenager described to the court how he "froze" when he saw Alfie, who he said had put his right hand towards his trousers.

The defendant said he had swung his knife "aimlessly through the air", but said he did not realise at the time he had made contact with Alfie.

"Thinking about it now, I think that was the one that hurt him," he said.

"I just did it to keep him from getting any closer. I thought he was going to grab my jacket and pull out a knife from his trousers and start stabbing me", he added.

The defendant said he started running when Alfie was on the ground and was "no longer a threat".

When asked by Mr Lumley if he agreed with the prosecution that he had caused Alfie's death, he replied: "Yes, I agree with that and I'm sorry."

Asked if he had meant to kill Alfie, he said: "No, I didn't even intend to hurt him, I was just trying to keep him back."

'Scare him'

Under cross-examination by prosecutor Craig Hassell KC, the defendant was challenged over his claim he had chosen the knife because it had been blunt and would be the least effective.

"You didn't pick that knife out of a drawer because it was blunt, did you? Because we can see that it isn't blunt," Mr Hassell said.

"It was the bluntest in the kitchen at the time," the defendant replied.

Later, when the teenager denied he had intended to cause Alfie harm by swinging the knife, Mr Hassell asked: "What else was it going to do, if not cause harm?"

"I thought it was going to scare him and keep him away," the defendant told the court.

"He was telling you to chill out," Mr Hassell said.

The defendant replied: "No. He didn't say it once."

The trial continues.