Gurdeep Garcha K.C. is defending a Black Country teenager charged with the murder of a 15 year old who was stabbed to death in West Bromwich Town Centre in April 2024.
The defendant is jointly charged with robbery and murder alongside a 13 year old. It is the prosecution case that the pair robbed a young man at knifepoint in Cape Hill, Smethwick on the afternoon of the day in question.
It is said that this incident was the catalyst for the incident in West Bromwich later that evening. Friends of the youth who was robbed are said to have arranged a meeting where it was intended to resolve the matter.
Following an altercation the deceased was stabbed through the heart and died at the scene.
The defendant denies that he was armed with a knife prior to the incident. Whilst he accepts inflicting the fatal injury, it is his case that he did so in lawful self-defence, when the deceased attacked him with a machete that he was carrying.
The defendant, represented by Gurdeep Garcha K.C. leading Sunit Sandhu (Equity Chambers, Birmingham) – instructed by Ranbir Mann of Mann & Co Solicitors – is being tried at Bolton Crown Court. The trial is expected to last 4 weeks.