Standens Barn stabbing: Jury shown CCTV evidence frame by frame, captured by house opposite fatal incident
The jury was taken through CCTV evidence frame by frame, captured by a camera on a house opposite the car parking area where the fatal incident took place in Standens Barn.
The prosecution opened the trial of a man accused of murdering 23-year-old Clinton Obeng Oppong Antwi, after a jury was sworn in on May 27.
Junior Emmanuel Uwadia, of Northfield Way, Northampton, denies murdering Clinton – who died in Flaxwell Court, Standens Barn on Thursday, December 11 last year.
Uwadia has also entered a plea of not guilty to having an article with a blade or point.
Yesterday (May 28) marked the first day of evidence in the trial before Her Honour Judge Rebecca Crane, which is estimated to last for around three weeks.
“Junior Uwadia had inflicted two horrible wounds to Clinton Antwi,” said Mr Vout KC, who explained that the deceased and the defendant were friends and shared two mutual friends.
The court heard that the start of this incident began on December 6, 2024 when the defendant and Clinton had an argument.
“It seems to have been about something fairly minor,” said Mr Vout KC, who explained it was about arrangements for a meal and this led to a disagreement.
The evening before the fatal stabbing
The first witness to be called upon was Simon Chamberlain from Northamptonshire Police, who played a role in searching, photographing and preserving the scene.
The jury were shown regular photographs taken by police, but also 360 degree shots of all relevant areas to the case – both in daylight and at night time.
The next witness was Gary Dale, also from Northamptonshire Police, who was responsible for the CCTV coordination. He recovered footage from a camera fixed to the side of a house that was opposite the car park where the incident took place.
The court heard that despite the fact there is a jump in this footage, which equates to around a second and 16 frames, there were more than 1,500 still images that could be retrieved. The sound had also been synchronised with the visuals.
Five events were captured on CCTV and shown to the jury, with the first two being on December 10, 2024. The first pictured the victim and defendant’s cars entering and leaving Weston Favell Shopping Centre between 6.44pm and 7.07pm.
The second was between 7.10pm and 7.12pm on the same evening at Flaxwell Court, where the fatal stabbing happened the following day.
The court saw Clinton travel to the location in his vehicle, run out of the car parking area and out of sight of the camera. Northants Police stated on the video that “unintelligible male voices” could be heard out of sight.
Clinton then ran back to his vehicle, dropping and picking up an object as he went, and then reversed his vehicle to leave the car park.
The court saw that as he left and took the corner onto Flaxwell Court from the car park, the car “mounts the footpath” towards the defendant and one of their mutual friends as it continued onto the main road.
The day of the fatal stabbing
The entirety of the clip captured on CCTV of the fatal incident itself is around four minutes long from 5.30pm until 5.34pm on December 11.
Both the victim and the defendant travelled to the car parking area in their own vehicles, with Clinton bringing two of their mutual friends, the court heard.
The court saw that Uwadia leaves his vehicle first and walks towards Clinton’s car, before one of the mutual friends appears on the footage. He walks past the defendant towards his vehicle, as Uwadia follows behind.
The victim then runs from the direction of his vehicle towards the defendant, which is when the footage jumps. Northants Police described that Uwadia appeared to have backed away as Clinton moved towards him.
The court heard and saw that the two then appear to be holding each other, as the mutual friend walks into view and the three of them are grouped together within three seconds.
From a still image 13 seconds later, the court heard that the defendant backed away as the victim and mutual friend side by side moved towards him.
The three were then all close together with arms waving, and the victim’s right arm was outstretched behind him with an object in his hand. The court heard that the victim then stooped low towards the defendant before turning away. Having stepped back, Clinton then bent down to pick something off the road.
From what is described above to when the victim then appears to fall forward onto his hands and knees, there is a difference of around 17 seconds – in which a series of movements led the three close to the defendant’s car.
The court heard that Clinton then ran away across the road as the defendant turned back towards his vehicle. A second mutual friend then emerges from the victim’s car and follows Clinton.
The court heard that the first mutual friend was at the window of the defendant’s car, while the second mutual friend picked up a traffic cone and threw it at the defendant’s car as he began to drive off.
As Uwadia’s car travelled out of the car park and towards the junction with Standens Barn Road, the two mutual friends ran after it – while Clinton collapsed on a grass verge where he would not get up again.
There was no activity on the CCTV for 69 seconds before the two friends returned to find Clinton collapsed.
All of the descriptions outlined above were from summaries of the CCTV provided to the jury in a presentation by Mr Dale on behalf of Northamptonshire Police and the prosecution.
The trial continues.