Ryan Passey murder trial: Jury retires to consider its verdict
The jury in the trial of a man accused of fatally stabbing amateur footballer Ryan Passey during a fight in a nightclub has been sent out to consider its verdict.
Student Kobe Murray, 19, denies murdering 24-year-old Mr Passey in Chicago’s in Stourbridge town centre on August 6 last year, claiming he acted in self-defence.
During the trial at Birmingham Crown Court, the jury has heard differing accounts about who the knife belonged to and who brought it into the club that night.
Murray, of The Broadway, Dudley, alleges he grabbed it from his friend to dispose of just before he was punched and lashed out forcefully with both hands to fend off further attack, accidentally stabbing Mr Passey.
The prosecution asserts that the knife belonged to Murray and that he deliberately plunged it into the victim, whose heart was pierced by the blade and who died soon afterwards.
Summing up the case today, Judge Julian Goose QC told the jury: “Ultimately you should concentrate on what the defendant did do and not what he meant to do when he stabbed the deceased with a knife.”
He directed them to find Murray guilty if they believed he intended to kill or at least caused serious harm to Mr Passey, of Quarry Bank. However if they concluded that the defendant intended to cause some harm they should find him guilty of manslaughter and if they believed he acted in self-defence they should return a verdict of non-guilty to both charges.
