Armed gang deliberately crashed into car then stabbed man to death, court hears

Victim 'curled up like a baby' during attack, witness says

Kwabena Nelson was stabbed to death in Tottenham (Evening Standard)

An armed gang stabbed a man to death after deliberately crashing into his car, a court heard.

Kwabena Nelson, 22, was fatally wounded following the “determined and sustained” attack in Kemble Road, Tottenham, north London, in the early hours of 3 February.

He “curled up like a baby” as the group hit, kicked and stabbed him, with “silver flashing in and out” during the assault, one witness said.

Neron Quartey, 21, who allegedly drove the stolen black Honda Civic that rammed Mr Nelson’s grey car of the same make, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of murder.

Prosecuting, Simon Mayo QC told jurors: “The collision between the vehicles was, it seems, not an accident.

“Shortly after the collision a group of men decamped from the defendant’s vehicle, the black Honda Civic.

“They ran to where Mr Nelson’s car had come to rest and began to attack the car and then him.

“This was a determined and sustained attack by a group of men armed with weapons.”

After the gang fled, Mr Nelson managed to call emergency services and knock on the door of a house.

He also managed to contact his brother’s partner, who rushed to the scene along with his brother, where they found him “clearly close to death”, Mr Mayo added.

A woman identified to the jury only as Witness A said she was woken up at around 1.30am by a car horn sounding.

She told the court through a video-link: “I saw four or five people coming out of it. Every door was open and everyone from that car came out.

“Every one of them was in dark clothing. They went to the other car and surrounded it, they started banging on it.

“I saw him (Mr Nelson) come out the passenger side... they started attacking him when that door was open.

“They started hitting him, kicking him, knifing him down.

“He was on his feet then he fell down on the ground and curled up like a baby. I got scared when I saw the silver flashing in and out.

“They were very close, he couldn’t run back, there was no way. He wasn’t fighting back he was just trying to protect himself, shielding himself from them.”

The court also heard a witness statement from Felipe Luchi, who was staying with his parents in the house that Mr Nelson knocked on as he died.

Mr Luchi said he heard someone knocking “heavily and desperately” on the door, which he then braced against as he did not know if the person was hostile.

He said: “I then heard a male say ‘Help me, help me. Help me, I was stabbed’ and ‘I’m going to die’.

“He was initially shouting and then appeared to be losing strength then it was just talking.”

When he heard the man shout he had been stabbed Mr Luchi asked his brother, who was already calling police, to ask for an ambulance as well, the court heard.

His mother, Eliana Luchi, described waking up to the sound of someone screaming in pain and said she saw out of her window two people sprinting away.

Mr Nelson died at the scene shortly before 3am despite the hour-long efforts of emergency medical staff, including a doctor who opened his chest to try and massage his heart, the court heard.

A post-mortem examination on 5 February found he had suffered 14 incised injuries from sharp-edged instruments and died from blood loss.

Mr Nelson, known as Kobi to friends and family, is said to have suffered from a medical condition which caused joint and leg pain, affecting his mobility to an extent.

Mr Quartey, of Wood Green, north London, denies murder.

PA