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

Junior Emmanuel Uwadia, of Northfield Way, Northampton, denies murdering Clinton – who died in Flaxwell Court, Standens Barn shortly on Thursday, December 11 last year.

Uwadia has also entered a plea of not guilty to having an article with a blade or point.

Today (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.

Prosecuting, Andrew Vout KC began by outlining their case and the alleged events of December 11, 2024. One of the first things the court saw was the knife alleged to have been used by Uwadia to stab Clinton Antwi.

“Junior Uwadia had inflicted two horrible wounds to Clinton Antwi,” said Mr Vout KC, who described the way the victim fell onto his hands and knees and was “defenceless” before he was stabbed for a second time.

The deceased and the defendant were friends and shared two mutual friends, the court heard.

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.

On December 10, the day before Clinton died, the court heard the pair argued again. During the course of this argument, Mr Vout KC said Uwadia “produced a large knife”.

Clinton got into his car and drove towards Uwadia, who allegedly struck Clinton’s car. The court heard that Clinton believed Junior had damaged his car.

One of their mutual friends contacted Uwadia and asked him to return to “sort things out calmly”. In the messages to follow, the court heard the defendant said he “had his blade” and “spared [Clinton] his life”. Uwadia later described what had happened that day (December 10) as a “warning”. “I saved his life because you don’t know how angry I was,” read another of his text messages, the court heard.

The following day (December 11), the court heard that one of the mutual friends had arranged a meeting in the car parking area of Flaxwell Court for the conflict to be resolved. In a text message, the defendant assured one of the mutual friends that nothing bad would happen.

Mr Vout KC explained that the four met at the arranged location at around 5.30pm, and Uwadia had a knife in his rucksack. It is alleged that words were exchanged and the victim and defendant “struggled with each other” before Uwadia’s rucksack swung round.

The prosecution outlined that the knife dropped out and fell to the floor, which was then picked up by Clinton. Holding it in his right hand, Mr Vout KC says Clinton made no attempt to use the knife and wanted to keep it away from Uwadia.

It is alleged that Clinton punched Uwadia with his free hand, before he went back across the car park towards Uwadia’s black Mercedes. Uwadia followed, the court heard, and the prosecution said he proceeded to take the knife from Clinton and use it to attack him.

Clinton then tried to run away and “stumbled forwards” onto his hands and knees, in which the prosecution described the victim as “prone and defenceless”.

The court heard that having been stabbed twice, Clinton managed to run away as Uwadia got back into his car and drove off. One of the two mutual friends at the scene threw a traffic cone at the car and they both ran after Uwadia as he sped off.

It was then that Clinton collapsed at the corner of the car parking area and Flaxwell Court, where the two mutual friends found him when they returned and called the emergency services. By 6.13pm on December 11, Clinton had died.

One of the mutual friends phoned the defendant and tried to get him to return with no success, the court heard.

Mr Vout KC explained that the defendant then “set about covering his tracks” and wrote a list of things he needed to do the following day, which included attempting to get the damage to his car fixed. The court heard this had been caused by the traffic cone thrown by the mutual friend.

Uwadia was then arrested on suspicion of murder just after midnight on December 12 and with six interviews under caution to follow, the 25-year-old answered “no comment” to all questions asked.

As the prosecution opening drew to a close, Mr Vout KC said that Uwadia has since indicated that he stabbed Clinton but “did so in reasonable self defence”.

The trial continues.