Fred Shand murder trial: Pictures of 17-year-old posing with knives labelled ‘stupid’ and ‘childish’ by defence barrister

The closing statement from the defence barrister of the 17-year-old defendant was the final one to be heard in the trial of the Northampton teens charged with the murder of Fred Shand.

The murder trial has been ongoing for the past three weeks, with alternative counts of manslaughter having been added for both defendants towards the end of the third week.

The 15-year-old denies murder but admits manslaughter, and the 17-year-old denies both charges. It is for the jury to consider this, as well as determine if the 17-year-old defendant made his ‘withdrawal from joint enterprise’ clear to the younger defendant.

Mr Benjamin Aina KC, defending the 17-year-old, started by saying: “The carrying of knives in our society is unacceptable. I don’t know how we’ve arrived in a situation where children aged 14, 15, 16 think it’s cool to pose with knives, think it’s cool to be in possession of a hunter knife or a machete. It’s wrong.”

Having referred to his defendant’s guilty plea to being in possession of a knife at the scene of the fatal stabbing, Mr Aina KC said to the jury: “This trial, however, is not about the fact that some children carry knives.

“This trial and your decision in this trial is about whether [my client] is criminally liable for the death of Fred. It is not about all the evil that is associated with knife carrying. Have that at the forefront of your mind.”

The court previously saw two images of the 17-year-old defendant posing and showing off with knives.

Mr Aina KC said: “That has nothing at all to do with the death of Fred.” The defence barrister continued by describing the behaviour in the pictures as “stupid” and “childish”.

“That type of behaviour has nothing at all to do with the taking out of a knife and being prepared to plunge it into the body of another human being,” Mr Aina KC added.

The defence barrister moved on to the communications exchanged on social media ahead of the incident, when he said the 17-year-old was “angry” to learn his friend had been in hospital after sustaining an injury at McDonald’s on March 21.

Though Mr Aina KC told the court his client wanted “revenge” and was talking “tough” about what was going to happen when Fred was found, he reiterated to the jury how the conversation ended.

Having asked the 15-year-old to “get your tools, come by my yard, leave ‘em here” and proceeded to say they would go back and “roll if they still wanted smoke”, Mr Aina KC told the court it was “important” to note that the first part of the plan involved no weapons in accordance with the messages sent by the 17-year-old.

The defence barrister says there was no time to leave the knives at the home of the 17-year-old as planned – going against the prosecution’s earlier argument that there was time during the co-defendant’s scooter journey from the town centre to Kingsthorpe College.

Mr Aina KC says the “evidence with no dispute” is that the knife the 17-year-old was in possession of was never seen again, spoken about during the incident, or used in a “threatening way”.

When cross-examined by Mr Aina KC, the 15-year-old defendant denied that his co-defendant said he did not have the heart to use the knives as he knew Fred and his friend would be unarmed on their way home from school.

However, the court heard the 15-year-old agreed there was an agreement between the pair that no knives would be used.

Mr Aina KC then told the court about the stop made on the scooter, on the opposite side of the road to Waitrose in Harborough Road near a bus stop.

The 15-year-old defendant did confirm during his evidence that a discussion was had between the pair when the scooter made this stop, and the older defendant suggested they should “leave it” and get a bus into town.

The court heard that despite the 17-year-old offering to pay for the younger defendant’s bus fare, they continued on the scooter rented using the 15-year-old’s mother’s account.

“Ask yourselves what this means?” Mr Aina KC asked the jury.

Moving on, the defence barrister questioned the decisions of Fred and his friend not to take the usual route home along Mill Lane to Kings Heath and how they “ran” to the green in Harborough Road where the incident took place.

Mr Aina KC said: “The whole of Miss Bickerstaff’s case to you has been almost to paint Fred and [his friend] as if they did nothing wrong – that they were set upon as victims.”

Referring to the CCTV footage where the four young males first came together, Mr Aina KC asked “what are they doing?” when Fred and his friend can be seen crossing to the green.

What else has happened in the trial so far?

The two teenage boys from Northampton, who were aged 14 and 16 at the time but are now 15 and 17, pleaded not guilty to their murder charge before Northampton Crown Court on April 24. They cannot be named for legal reasons.

Miss Jane Bickerstaff KC, the prosecuting barrister, kickstarted the trial on Wednesday, July 12 with the prosecution opening after the jury was sworn in on Monday, July 10.

The court heard the younger defendant, aged 15, faces an additional charge of carrying an article with a blade or a sharp point in a public place – which he pleaded guilty to from the outset.

The court heard 16-year-old Rohan Shand, known as Fred, died after being stabbed near the Cock Hotel in Harborough Road at about 3.35pm on March 22 while on his way home from Kingsthorpe College.

Miss Bickerstaff KC, of the prosecution, told the court it was the 15-year-old male defendant that carried out the stabbing and he was accompanied by the 17-year-old in the planned “joint enterprise attack” – shown by CCTV footage in court.

The stabbing followed an altercation outside McDonalds in the Drapery, which the court heard took place the day before (March 21).

A male had his “face sliced with a belt buckle” during that “dispute” and the two defendants were a friend of his. The co-defendants believed Fred Shand was at the forefront of the group responsible.

The court heard that after the co-defendants arrived at Kingsthorpe College later than planned on March 22, they rode on scooter towards the town centre via Harborough Road.

The entire incident was over in seven seconds after Fred, his teen friend and the two co-defendants came together for the first time at 3.34pm on March 22 on the green in Harborough Road, the court heard.

The co-defendants fled the scene on foot to the home of the 17-year-old, where they were detained by police shortly after – along with the murder weapon, a second knife and clothing worn during the incident.

During the second day of the trial (Thursday, July 13) – the first in which witnesses were called on to give evidence by the prosecution – the court saw 360 degree imagery to give them an understanding of the area, as well as video footage that has been recovered from March 22.

On the morning of the third day of the trial (Friday, July 14), the pathologist that conducted Fred’s post-mortem examination gave her expert evidence on the cause of death.

This was followed by evidence given by the teen friend who was with Fred on the day of the fatal stabbing.

Kickstarting the second week (Tuesday, July 18), the two eyewitnesses who followed the co-defendants home after the incident were called to give evidence.

The final live witness took to the stand to conclude the morning sitting, when the court heard he saw the blade pulled from the younger defendant’s trousers.

Five written witness statements were read aloud to conclude the sitting on Tuesday, July 18. One of which detailed a nine second phone call the 15-year-old defendant had with a friend ahead of the incident.

The final eight written statements were heard the following day (Wednesday, July 19), including five from members of the police force.

Ahead of the prosecution closing its case, the jury were taken step-by-step through key moments which led to the Kingsthorpe College pupil’s death.

Having been told the agreed facts of the case, the jury heard the 17-year-old defendant had pleaded guilty to being in possession of a bladed article in Harborough Road on the day of the fatal stabbing.

The 15-year-old defendant stood to give evidence in court for the first time on the afternoon of Friday, July 21, when the jury heard him say young people buy knives “for show” and to “look cool”.

The younger defendant also proceeded to tell the court he felt “upset” seeing a picture of Fred Shand for the first time because of “how it happened and how it went down”.

Continuing his evidence on July 24, the 15-year-old said he wore a balaclava and carried a knife on the day of the fatal stabbing to “look as scary as possible” but claimed he had no intention of using the knife as a weapon.

That same afternoon, the younger defendant described the moments leading up to the fatal stabbing and said he “did not realise” he stabbed Fred until the 16-year-old collapsed and he saw the blood on his knife.

The 15-year-old admitted going against an “agreement” with his older co-defendant not to use a knife in the confrontation with Fred and his friend when he was cross-examined in court on July 25.

Miss Bickerstaff KC, prosecuting, accused the 15-year-old of “telling lots of lies” to the jury. During the conclusion of his evidence, the court heard the younger defendant obtained the knife that killed Fred by asking “strangers” in the street to buy the blade for him.

Benjamin Aina KC, defending the 17-year-old, told Northampton Crown Court on July 27 that his client will not be giving any evidence in the murder trial.

The 17-year-old’s father, however, did take the stand as a witness and told the jury that he threw away a machete he used for “cutting wood” after discovering a photo of his son posing with it on his phone.

The Honourable Mr Justice Morris began giving legal directions to jurors on Friday, July 28. This set out the important factors they need to take into account when deciding if each defendant is guilty of murder or manslaughter.

Having started the closing statements on the morning of Monday, July 31, the jury heard the prosecution refer to the fatal stabbing as a “planned, anticipated and violent attack on Fred”.

This was followed by the closing statement from the defence barrister of the 15-year-old defendant, who described the fatal stabbing as a “fight gone horribly, tragically wrong”.

The trial continues.