A teenager stabbed an innocent 22-year-old man to death after he overheard one of the victim’s friends call a young woman “fit”, a court heard.
Tragic Tom Webb, 22, was found with fatal wounds on St Peter’s Street in Derby at 8.30pm on January 19 this year.
He was rushed to hospital but despite the best efforts of medics nothing could be done to save him and he later died.
Nottingham Crown Court heard a 16-year-old boy, who can’t be named for legal reasons, attacked Mr Webb in a bid to “demonstrate his power” to his friends.
After leaving Mr Webb is a pile of blood the youth tried to cover his tracks by hiding the knife in a McDonald’s cup, jurors were told.
Opening the prosecution case, Michael Auty QC said the teenager knifed the victim in the chest when he “called his bluff and suggested he wouldn’t stab him”.
Mr Auty told the jury the defendant had wanted confrontation when he launched the pursuit in Derby city centre.
He added: “Tom Webb had done nothing wrong, we say. He was not carrying a knife. He was not looking for any trouble at all. He was no threat to anyone.
“The defendant wanted confrontation, he sought to demonstrate his power. We say this was what this was all about.
“For no reason at all, save to exude an aura of menace and power to those meekly trailing along in his wake, he must, at the very least, have had the intention to cause some really serious bodily harm.
“That is murder.”
The court heard Mr Webb had been buying food and drink from a Tesco in Derby city centre with two friends.
But after they left the store, one of Mr Webb’s pals made a remark about a passing young woman being “fit”.
The jury were told a friend of the defendant overheard the comment and informed the teenager who decided to pursue Mr Webb’s group.
Prosecutor Mr Auty said Mr Webb then became aware of “an angry mob” as the 16-year-old “set about provoking a fight”.
The court heard Mr Webb “said expressly that he had no wish to fight 15-year-olds, asking what they were going to do”.
But Mr Auty said the youth replied: “What am I going to do? You don’t know who I am?”
The jury heard the teen then drew a a “particularly sinister knife” from a bag hanging around his neck but Mr Webb said: “You’re not going to use that; you’re not going to stab anyone”.
Mr Auty told the jury the boy held the knife to Mr Webb’s throat but he managed to push him back.
He said other members of the mob then started fighting and during the brawl Mr Webb was stabbed in the chest.
Mr Auty added: “Suddenly, one of the women screamed and Tom Webb fell to the ground holding his lower chest area and saying: ‘He’s stabbed me’.
“This defendant made a decision to carry a knife. Not just any knife but a particularly sinister knife.
“He chose to stab Tom Webb when he had no need to.
“What he couldn’t take was losing face, better to stab Tom Webb than walk away.”
Mr Auty said in the aftermath the defendant said something to the effect of ‘what have I done?’ and was “plainly shaking”.
He said the knife was placed inside a McDonald’s cup in a planter, which police later recovered and the youth was arrested at 11.25am the following day.
The 16-year-old, from Allenton, Derby, denies murdering Mr Webb.
The trial continues.
