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Ben Kinsella |
‘Bounty on heads of Ben’s killers’ claim
Trial told Adams family had ‘big money down’
SHOCKED members of “a family” who were neighbours of schoolboy Ben Kinsella set to track down his killers, a jury heard yesterday (Thursday).
And it was suggested they put a bounty on the heads of those involved.
“A family known as the Adams family made it known that they weren’t happy with a killing on the streets of their area. They were a pretty serious family,” said prosecutor Nicholas Hilliard QC at the Old Bailey.
The QC said “inquiries” were being made by the Adams family to find those responsible for the death of 16-year-old Ben, brother of EastEnders actress Brooke Kinsella.
She was in court with her parents to hear one of the accused, sports coach Jade “J-Man” Braithwaite, 20, reveal he had heard of the “interest” the Adams family had in finding the culprits.
Braithwaite, from Camden Town, agreed that he told his co-accused, in a conversation secretly recorded by police: “The family have got big money down. They would put money on whoever was involved heads.”
He said he heard that “the Adams family’s right-hand man wants to speak to me” and he was scared.
Braithwaite, Michael Alleyne, 18, and Juress Kikka, 18, both from Holloway, deny murdering Ben in North Road, Islington, last year.
Ben was returning home from a bar when he was knifed 11 times in five seconds. The court heard that he had not been involved in any trouble at the bar.
Braithwaite rejected claims that he was armed with a knife that night or had attacked Ben. He told the court he had seen Alleyne with a knife stabbing Ben and that Kikka was nearby,
Braithwaite said Ben had walked up to him looking for trouble.
He admitted he was secretly recorded by police offering cash bribes to Alleyne and Kikka to help him beat a murder rap and that he had discussed an alibi with them.
Money from his mother and his aunt would be provided to them, agreed Braithwaite, who helped out at the Sobell Centre in Holloway.
He is the first of the three accused to go into the witness box.
Braithwaite insisted he was not armed with a knife and that several witnesses who claimed he spoke of having one and wanting to use it on someone were mistaken.
He claimed he had seen Alleyne pull a knife from his pocket and attack Ben. “I definitely know that Michael Alleyne stabbed Ben,” he alleged.
“I’m very clear what happened. Kikka aimed a punch towards the back of Ben’s head. I never saw that person [Kikka] with a knife.”
Braithwaite said he ran off in fear and hid at a nearby block of flats.
Quizzed by Sallie Bennett-Jenkins QC, for Alleyne, Braithwaite denied having a 40 second phone conversation with him within minutes of the stabbing.
The trial continues. |
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