Gordon Gault killing: Accused 'stabbed boy in self defence'

A machete-wielding teenager fatally stabbed a 14-year-old boy in self defence, a court has heard.

Gordon Gault died in hospital six days after being wounded in Newcastle in November 2022.

Six youths, aged 16 to 18, deny murder, and also wounding a 17-year-old boy.

Carlos Neto, 18, accepted striking the fatal blow but told Newcastle Crown Court he did not mean to harm the boy. He also said their feud had started over a "disrespectful" song.

Jurors have heard the attacks on 9 November were part of a "beef" between rival groups of youths involving "tit-for-tat violence" and rap videos mocking each other.

Two of the defendants, aged 16 and 17, are unable to be identified because of their age, but the others who are all 18 are:

Under questioning from his barrister Jason Pitter KC, Mr Neto said: "I was just trying to defend myself."

Prosecutors have said Mr Neto and his friends were associated with the Benwell area and had gone to their rivals' park in Elswick on 9 November to exact revenge after Mr Mbala had been attacked earlier in the day.

But Mr Neto said they just went there to "stunt" or "show off", to take pictures and videos showing they were "not scared".

Mr Neto said he was going to use the machete and a mask to "look intimidating" in the video so people "wouldn't think of approaching me".

He said they saw their rivals gathering at the northern entrance of the park so, being "frightened" and not wanting "any violence to occur", Mr Neto and his friends ran away to the park's southern end.

He said he was at the rear of his retreating group and felt "alone" as he fled into Westmorland Road, where he saw a bike carrying two people approaching.

Mr Neto said he could see the passenger, now known to be Gordon, had a "long" and "shining" weapon which Mr Neto thought could be a machete, although jurors were told it was actually a baseball bat.

"He had his arms stretched out ready to swing," Mr Neto said, adding: "I struck out with my machete to stop him using his weapon against me."

He said the incident took "under 10 seconds" and Gordon stayed on the bike as it rode away.

Mr Neto also accepted he caused the injury to the 17-year-old moments later on Brunel Terrace.

The boy threw his bike at him and then pulled a knife from his waistband and "tried to attack", Mr Neto said.

"I thought I was going to be stabbed again so I started swinging my machete as well", he said, adding the boy then "stumbled" and Mr Neto's swing hit the youth in the back.

Mr Neto said he saw "fur" or "fluff" come out of the boy's coat but no injury, but that did not stop the boy who then tried to "approach and go again".

It ended when a motorist turned into the street and honked her horn, the court heard.

Mr Neto said afterwards he was "shocked" and hid in the woods with his friends where they discarded their weapons.

When asked how he felt about Gordon's death, he replied: "I felt sympathy because at the end of the day a family had a lost a child and a sibling had lost a brother."

The court heard he wrote rap lyrics afterwards saying he wasn't bothered about the killing, but he told jurors that was to "look hard" and not what he really felt.

Under cross-examination by prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford KC, Mr Neto admitted he "gloated" about the attacks to protect his image.

Mr Neto said he knew Gordon and his group as "most of them" had attended his school, but he had nothing against them.

Tensions arose between the two groups after one of them "disrespected" the appearance and "larger build" of Mr Natty in a music track.

Mr Neto said he was stabbed in three times in the buttock and hip on 22 October when someone attempted to steal his coat.

His rivals then made a music video mocking him which he said upset him as the stabbing had been a "traumatic experience" for him and his family.

Mr Natty gave him a machete on 9 November and Mr Neto told jurors its purpose was to "scare off any would-be attacker".

The trial continues.

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