Standens Barn stabbing: Mother encouraged children to close their eyes as they hurried past incident involving men behaving like 'animals'

The trial continues for the 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.

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.

Monday’s evidence (June 9) concluded with eight witness statements read out to the jury. This included five members of the public and three members of the police force.

One of these statements included a woman who walked past the incident on a nearby footpath with two children, who can be seen on the CCTV footage captured by the house opposite the car parking area in Flaxwell Court.

The court heard that at her closest point, she believes she was five metres from the incident. In her statement provided on the day after the fatal incident (December 12), she told the police she was “scared” and encouraged her children to close their eyes as they hurried past.

She heard “shouting” but could not hear what was being said at this point, but described the behaviour of the four males – which she recalled as including punching and kicking – as being like “animals”.

This witness did hear one of the males say “why did you do that bro?” and recalled that this took place in “less than a minute”.

Agreed facts concluded the evidence in this trial

Yesterday (June 10), the evidence in this trial concluded with a list of agreed facts – which covers all points that the prosecution and defence are in agreement about.

This began with background information on the defendant, Junior Uwadia, who left school with 10 GCSE qualifications, obtained a level three diploma in 2018 and graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Northampton in 2022.

The court also heard that he has worked as a teaching assistant, with no previous convictions, cautions or reprimands and the police had no intelligence on him.

It was confirmed that the first two police officers arrived at the scene of the fatal stabbing shortly after 5.45pm on December 11 last year, where they took over CPR being administered by one of the victim’s friends.

After more emergency service workers arrived on the scene in the minutes to follow, Clinton was taken to Northampton General Hospital in an ambulance and arrived at 6.09pm. He was pronounced dead four minutes later.

That same evening, Uwadia made a phone call to Autoglass about replacing the glass in his vehicle at 9.41pm.

The defendant was arrested at his home address on suspicion of murder at 12.43am on December 12.

Uwadia’s custody record states he was “very shocked” but “has been calm and compliant” with officers. He was described as appearing “socially inept and differential”, as well as “objectively anxious” but was not suicidal and had no learning difficulties.

The defendant was assessed by a mental health nurse, who described him as “alert and orientated”, giving eye contact and “coherent”.

The court heard Uwadia was deemed to have no cognitive deficits, no acute symptoms of anxiety or other mental illness, and that he did not need an appropriate adult to accompany him in interviews.

Searches of Uwadia’s home address were conducted on December 12 last year and January 12 this year, and a number of items were recovered from the defendant’s bedroom – including a “large knife”, a black rucksack with fragments of broken glass inside, and a handwritten note.

The piece of paper was seized from on top of the desk in Uwadia’s bedroom and it noted “things to do tomorrow”. This included paying £390 to Autoglass, “throw the splasher away if you can” and a note to remember where he had left the splasher, which is a slang term for knife.

Uwadia was questioned in six interviews during the time he was cautioned, and these interviews took place between 4.36pm on December 12 and 7.29pm on December 13. The defendant answered “no comment” to all questions asked.

After the agreed facts concluded, the defence confirmed they were not calling upon any evidence and the defendant would not be taking to the stand to give evidence.

The trial continues.

Read the previous Chronicle & Echo stories from this ongoing murder trial here…

Standens Barn stabbing: Jury sworn in as trial set to begin for 25-year-old murder accused

Standens Barn stabbing: Second stab wound inflicted as victim was ‘defenceless’ on hands and knees, says prosecution

Standens Barn stabbing: Jury shown CCTV evidence frame by frame, captured by house opposite fatal incident

Standens Barn stabbing: Defence alludes to ‘metal canister’ being used as ‘weapon’ by victim

Standens Barn stabbing: ‘I can’t describe it, I lost my best friend,’ says witness called to give evidence

Standens Barn stabbing: Second mutual friend was told victim and defendant were ‘going to have a fight’

Standens Barn stabbing: Mutual friend says victim’s punch to defendant’s back kickstarted fatal scuffle