Boy, 12, appears in court charged with murder

A boy aged 12 became one of the youngest defendants to face a murder charge when he appeared at the Old Bailey yesterday accused of supplying a knife used to kill a Somali teenager whose family had fled to Britain to escape civil war .

The boy, who was 11 when Kaiser Osman, 15, was stabbed to death by a 14-year-old, seemed bemused to be in court, his feet barely reaching the floor from his seat and his head only just visible behind his counsel's desk.

The boy's cousin, now aged 15, is also accused of murder. He is alleged to have fought with Kaiser outside the Acorn youth club in Harlesden, north-west London, before ordering the younger boy to fetch him a knife. The prosecution alleges the older boy plunged the blade into Kaiser's heart, left him to bleed to death in the street and was later heard boasting about what he had done. As juveniles, neither defendant can be named.

The incident took place in March after a row outside the youth club in the early evening. Brian Altman, for the prosecution, said the boys squared up, hurling abuse at each other. The 15-year-old defendant punched Kaiser before the fight was broken up.

"As an immediate and direct result of that first confrontation," Mr Altman said, "[the older cousin] had it in mind to take matters further, because he told his then 11-year-old cousin ... to fetch a knife for him. This [the younger cousin] dutifully did without dissent and without protest. The prosecution alleges that [the younger cousin] returned to his home ... and got a large kitchen knife as was requested and he returned to the scene where he handed it over.

"Obviously, he did not assist in the stabbing in a direct sense, but he is in law liable as a secondary party as he it was who at the request of [the older cousin] fetched the knife ­ the murder weapon ­ and handed it over," Mr Altman said. "If by supplying the murder weapon, [the younger cousin] realised, ie contemplated as a real possibility, that his cousin might use it with intent to kill or cause really serious bodily harm ... that makes him guilty of murder also."

The defendants, dressed in dark suits, white shirts and dark ties, were appearing in Court One, which had been specially prepared to appear less intimidating.

Neither the judge, Mrs Justice Rafferty, nor the barristers in the courtroom wore their wigs. The boys, who deny murder, did not have to sit in a dock, but were allowed instead to sit next to a relative or "appropriate adult" in the well of the court. The proceedings, which were stopped regularly so the defendants could have breaks, were relayed to a court annexe filled with the media.

Kaiser was born in Mogadishu. His family arrived in Britain as refugees in 1989.

The trial continues today.