A teenager has been found guilty of killing a 15-year-old boy after confessing to an online girlfriend as she sat with her grandmother in Nando’s.
The 16-year-old defendant chased and stabbed ex-friend Pharrell Garcia once in the heart in Stellman Close, Hackney, north London, just before 4pm last July 23.
Afterwards, he told a girl he knew only from online chat that he killed Pharrell by “accident”.
The defendant had admitted stabbing Pharrell, but claimed he had acted in self-defence using a multi-tool pocketknife brought by the victim.
A crime scene photographer at the scene in Stellman Close in Hackney (PA)
Following a trial at the Old Bailey, the youth was found guilty of manslaughter.
The court had heard how the defendant had fled and threw away the knife after Pharrell collapsed in the street, mortally injured.
Members of the public and paramedics had tried to save Pharrell, but he died at the scene at 4.58pm.
As part of the investigation into Pharrell’s death, police interviewed a girl who had been in Nando’s with her grandmother when the defendant rang about the stabbing.
In the lead-up to the incident, she said Pharrell had said of the defendant that he could “beat him up at any time”.
She was not “fazed” by it because she reasoned that “people argue all the time”, jurors heard.
Although they were friends, she said she had never met either of the boys in “real life”.
She was on her way to visit her grandmother when the defendant rang to say “I’m fighting Pharrell today”, the court was told.
She tried to dissuade him, saying “there’s no point doing anything to him”, according to her account.
She went on: “Then I’m at Nando’s with my Nan and then (the defendant) calls me and he’s like ‘I think I just killed Pharrell’.
“And I was like ‘don’t lie’ because I didn’t believe it. Like I was pretty shocked….
“He was like ‘I think I just killed Pharrell. I stabbed him in the heart by accident, but I was meant to stab his leg’.”
Prosecutor Mark Fenhalls KC pointed out that on the girl’s account it appeared that both boys were planning a fight of some sort.
Following his arrest the day after the killing, the defendant provided a prepared statement in which he described how he “fell out” with Pharrell.
He told police the victim had “always harboured a grudge” against him and was “obsessed with gangs and knives”.
He also claimed to have video footage on his phone of Pharrell threatening to “shank” him, the court was told.
Describing his version of events, the defendant stated: “He approached me on Tuesday and told me, again, he had a problem with me. He pulled a knife out of his sock and went to attack me.
“I was scared for my life and acted instinctively to defend myself. He is bigger and heavier build than me and I have a broken hand in cast that needs more surgery.
“I managed to get the knife off of him and struck him just once. I was terrified I was going to die and acted in self-defence to stop him. I had no intention to kill him or do serious harm – only to save my own life.”
Mr Fenhalls told jurors to consider why the defendant had stabbed Pharrell after disarming him rather than running away.
He said: “Once that knife is in (the defendant’s) hand, where is the risk? Where is the threat? Where is the fear?”
Having stabbed Pharrell, the prosecutor also questioned why the defendant then chased him and only made off once the boy had collapsed.
The jury deliberated for 15 hours and 39 minutes to reach verdicts in the case.
Judge Philip Katz KC remanded the defendant into custody ahead of sentencing on April 17.