Gordon Gault murder accused 'bought machete out of fear'

A teenager accused of murdering a 14-year-old boy in a feud bought a machete out of fear after a friend was stabbed, a court has heard.

Gordon Gault died in hospital six days after being fatally wounded with a machete in Newcastle in November 2022.

Six youths, aged 16 to 18, deny murder and wounding another youth.

Lawson Natty, now aged 18, told Newcastle Crown Court he bought a large knife days before the attack on Gordon because he was "scared".

Newcastle Crown Court has heard the attacks on 9 November were part of a feud between rival groups of youths in "tit-for-tat violence".

Two of the defendants, aged 16 and 17, cannot be identified. The remaining four, all aged 18, are:

Mr Natty was the first to give evidence at the murder trial, with jurors told he was born in Brussels, Belgium, in 2005 to Nigerian parents and moved to Newcastle at the age of 12.

Jurors have heard he bought two machetes online in the days before the attack, one of which is believed to have been used by Mr Natty's "best friend" Mr Neto to injure Gordon during a brawl.

Mr Natty said he bought two "by accident" and had wanted a knife in case he was attacked.

The court heard several youths wearing balaclavas and armed with knives turned up at his school in July 2022 looking for "someone" as part of a "feud".

Mr Natty said after that his mother escorted him to and from school and then he spent the summer holidays with family in Belgium.

When he returned in September he attempted to order a machete online, telling jurors he was "frightened and really scared" after the July incident.

"I didn't want to be attacked if I was walking by myself so I wanted to buy a knife," Mr Natty said.

The transaction failed though after the website asked him to provide ID.

In October, Mr Neto was stabbed or "cheffed" in the buttocks by several youths which resulted in him having stitches, jurors heard.

Because of that attack, Mr Natty said he used his father's passport in an attempt to order a machete but that was rejected as the names didn't match.

Several days later he tried again but while he was waiting for one website to confirm the order he was able to order another one from a second website without ID, the court heard.

He said he ended up with two machetes by mistake because the first order then went through before he could cancel it, so he gave the second weapon to Mr Neto.

He said he just wanted a knife and didn't realise how big a machete would be.

Mr Natty said on 9 November he and Mr Neto snuck out of school early and met friends in Elswick, which was "enemy territory", to smoke some cannabis.

He said members of a rival group spotted them in Elswick Park and were "trying to hunt us down" so he and his friends ran.

Mr Natty said he had his machete "down [his] pants" and it stayed there in its sheath the whole time, adding he had no involvement in any fighting and did not see Gordon get injured.

He said Mr Neto told him "somebody got stabbed" after they all fled to nearby woods where he threw his machete away.

Mr Natty is one of several defendants who allegedly wrote rap lyrics about the killing.

He said he started listening to drill music, which jurors have heard is a "dark" and "violent" sub-genre of rap focused on gang-culture, at the age of 13 and started to write his own songs.

Mr Natty said he recorded two tracks at a Sunderland studio, having saved up money earned from working at a music venue in Newcastle and a restaurant at the Metrocentre.

The first was an "emotional" song about his "daily life struggle", the second a drill rap inspired by England and Real Madrid footballer Jude Bellingham, the court heard.

Mr Natty said the second proved more popular than the first - racking up 30,000 views on YouTube so he "realised [he] had to make drill music to actually make money".

Mr Natty said he had other songs recorded but then "this thing happened", a reference to Gordon's killing.

The court heard he was "best friends" with co-accused Mr Neto, was schoolmates with Mr Mbala and the 17-year-old defendant and only met Mr Lacerda and the 16-year-old youth for the first time on 9 November.

Under questioning from prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford KC, Mr Natty denied he was a member of a "violent" group or that he and his friends had gone to Elswick looking for "revenge" after one of them had been attacked earlier in the day.

Mr Natty acknowledged he rapped about having associates who did "violent things" but said it was "exaggeration", adding it was "just to make me look hard for the public".

He said he "regarded [Gordon's group] as enemies" because they were from another territory to he and his Benwell-based friends, even though a lot of their rivals had once been their schoolmates.

Mr Sandiford said a note found on Mr Natty's phone after he had been arrested and released, which made reference to "busting the case", was Mr Natty thinking he had "got away with it", which the teenager denied.

The trial continues.

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