Ramarni Crosby: Threats made in Snapchat, trial hears

A fight outside a McDonald's restaurant sparked a feud that led to a fatal stabbing, a court has heard.

Ramarni Crosby, 16, was fatally stabbed in Gloucester on 15 December 2021 by a group carrying a meat cleaver, a machete and knives.

A witness who was part of Ramarni's group that night said the clash was sparked by a fight eight days earlier.

Getting revenge was discussed in their Snapchat conversations in the days before Ramarni's death, he told jurors.

Dean Smith, 20, Levi Cameron, 18, Callum Charles-Quebella, 18, three 17-year-olds and two 16-year-olds are accused of Ramarni's murder in the Barton area of Gloucester.

All of them deny the charges.

The witness, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, has been giving evidence at Bristol Crown Court.

He said he had fought with one of the defendants outside McDonald's on Westgate St on 7 December, and as a result of that fight, a group that included Ramarni went looking for his opponent eight days later.

After a failed attempt to find their target, with whom they had been communicating on Snapchat earlier that day, the group returned to the Barton Street area, the witness told the court.

During questioning by prosecution barrister Adam Vaitilingam KC, the witness said Ramarni's group had been expecting to meet "about five" opponents.

Instead they encountered more than twice that number, wearing balaclavas and carrying weapons, he told the court.

"Three of my friends ran, I stayed for about five seconds, but then they [the armed group] started coming towards me and I ran," the witness said.

He said he saw Ramarni "knock one of them down" and then about five people had surrounded Ramarni.

Defence barrister Andrew Langdon KC asked the witness about the fight outside McDonald's, where the witness claimed to have been attacked with a piece of wood.

He said he was struck across the head, causing the wood to break.

"You're exaggerating that aren't you?" Mr Langdon said, to which the witness had replied "no".

Mr Langdon accused the witness of "bigging up" his role in the fight outside McDonald's, on social media and on Snapchat, to the extent the other youth - who had also been claiming to have won the fight - contacted him directly to ask him to stop.

"I wasn't boasting," the witness replied.

On the night of the stabbing, Mr Langdon asked the witness whether he believed members of Ramarni's group were armed too.

The witness said he was not aware of any of them taking weapons, although he admitted he had been carrying a screwdriver because he was studying construction at college.

The court was read extracts from a conversation in a Snapchat group containing 11 members - including the witness and Ramarni - where getting revenge on the other youth had been discussed.

"What was the plan if you found him?" Mr Langdon asked the witness.

"Beat him up," he replied.

The court heard there was mention in Snapchat of "killing" the youth, but the witness said that was "not a serious conversation".

After Ramarni had been stabbed, police took the witness' phone and downloaded the Snapchat record from it, the court heard.

In those Snapchat conversations, Mr Langdon said, was talk of Ramarni's group taking a "shank" [knife] and a Rambo-style knife to the encounter on 15 December.

He also read to the witness a conversation regarding the youth they had gone to find, where one of Ramarni's group said "bro, I'll end him".

"And what does that mean?" asked Mr Langdon.

"Murder," replied the witness, who repeated his assertion that it was not a "serious" claim.

The jury has the option of convicting the eight defendants of manslaughter, to which Charles-Quebella has pleaded guilty.

A ninth defendant, Keishaleigh Margrett-Whitter, 20, of Lyncroft Road, Tyseley, Birmingham, stands accused of two counts of assisting an offender and denies both counts.

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