A TEENAGE murder victim is said to have held his hand on a young girl’s throat as they “tussled” for her car keys.
James Laurie “lunged” through a car door and snatched a set of keys from a teenage girl shortly before he died.
He gripped her throat, leaving her with red marks and shouted “everyone get out of the car”, a court heard.
The 17-year-old unleashed a torrent of abuse during the “terrifying” ordeal in the early hours of January 19 this year.
James then reportedly threw the keys back and forth between two friends, in Lindsay Road, Southampton.
One of them would later smash the girl’s car windows with a spade handle.
James died the same day from a single stab wound.
A 15-year-old Andover boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is said to have jumped out of the car and lunged at him with a knife fatally stabbing him in the chest.
The court also confirmed that the boy, who was previously reported to be from Andover, is actually from Portsmouth. He stands trial for murder, a charge which he denies and instead argues he was acting in self-defence.
Defence barrister, James Newton-Price QC summed up his case at Winchester Crown Court on Monday.
During proceedings he quoted the witness statement of a 17-year-old girl who had driven with the defendant to meet a friend at a “party” in the Thornhill area of the city.
Mr Newton-Price described the event as a carjacking and a terrifying experience for the girl.
He said how things turned “very ugly, very quickly” and how James and his friends had been on an offending “spree” that night.
Mr Newton-Price told the court about “11 previous occasions when James had a knife or blade in his possession and threatened others”.In 2017 he stabbed a man in the buttock and in the left leg when trying to steal his car keys and car.
At the time of his death he was under investigation for possessing a knife in a public place. Mr Newton-Price argued the defendant was acting “instinctively” when he got out the car.
The Honourable Mrs Justice May is due sum up the facts of the case today.
The trial continues.
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