Men were looking for Smethwick stab victim Ben Morutare, jury told
A group of men were looking for stab victim Ben Morutare on the night he died after a remark he is alleged to have made about a West Bromwich gang, a court heard.
One of Ben's friends, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told police the group of six to eight black men approached him in the Smethwick Old Guards and Comrades Club.
He said the men told him Ben had made an offensive remark about the Rad Gang using a swear word. "One of them said 'Your mate, the little one . . . it's your mate that swore'," said Ben's friend during the police interview, which was played to the jury during the murder trial yesterday.
He told the interviewer the men told him to find Ben because they wanted to speak to him. He said he then went to find Ben.
The interviewer asked if he or Ben had ever had any trouble with the Rad Gang.
He replied 'no' but said: "I have heard about them, there are videos on YouTube." He said neither he nor Ben had been in the gang. The youngster told the officer he took a knife to the party which he hid in his shoe. "I did take a knife for safety," he said.
He said that later in the night there was a fight and everyone was pushed outside the club. Ben, from Coalpool, Walsall, and two friends were attacked outside the club in the early hours of July 28. Ben had been invited to a friend's 17th birthday party at the club.
Andy Ly, 18, of Fulmer Walk, and Omar Robinson, 19, of Rann Close, both Ladywood, deny murder.
They also deny violent disorder along with Jordan Campbell, 18, of Portland Road, Edgbaston; Kwamae Phillips, 18, of Gillott Road, Edgbaston; Tahj Mills, 18, of Waterside Street, West Bromwich; Tobias Blake, 20, of Kelsall Croft, Ladywood, and Aaron Parkins, 19, whose address cannot be reported for legal reasons.
