Teenager carrying Samurai sword denies role in Jaskaran Kang death
A teenager who took a miniature Samurai sword on a burglary during which a shopkeeper was fatally stabbed told a jury he took no part in the murder.
Michael Cunningham was one of four teenagers, all carrying menacing knives, who broke into 24-year-old drug dealer Jaskaran Kang's Brierley Hill flat to steal his haul of cannabis, he told the court.
But their knives were intended only to scare. "There was no discussion about anyone getting stabbed," he claimed.
Cunningham, 18, of Wolverhampton, had hooked up with the others on January 6 last year to carry out the raid. After smashing in the front door, Cunningham and Joshua Campbell barged into a bedroom and forced Mr Kang's flatmate Alex Clark at knifepoint to hand over cannabis stashed in the loft.
Cunningham said he heard 'a bang and commotion' on the landing outside but did not investigate. "I didn't want to take my eyes off Alex – I was paying attention to what I was doing," he told Birmingham Crown Court.
He heard the words ''Where's the food?' repeated above the noise and Mr Kang's reply 'He's going to give it to you'. As Cunningham fled with the others, he saw Mr Kang on the landing 'bleeding a lot from his legs'.
Afterwards Campbell 'went mad' at the others, saying 'No one was supposed to get stabbed'.
Cunningham of Coalway Road; Dontay Ellis, 19, from Central Drive, Lower Gornal; Campbell, 18, of King Edmund Street, Dudley; and James Peake, 18, of Southgate Way, Dudley plead not guilty to murder.
Tyrone Johnson, 21, of Malthouse Drive, Dudley, denies manslaughter.
The judge has dismissed the case against Reggie Salmon, 21, of Stourbridge Road, Dudley, who had denied charges of manslaughter and conspiracy to rob.
Cunningham and Peake have admitted conspiracy; the others deny the charge, although Ellis has confessed to being at the scene. The case continues.
