A tragic incident unfolded as 17-year-old Victor Lee, a teenage weapons dealer, was fatally stabbed and pushed into London’s Grand Union Canal during a meeting with other teenagers to sell them a crossbow.
Lee was pulled out of the canal by two houseboat residents but succumbed to his injuries on the towpath in June last year. The court heard that Lee had been stabbed multiple times with at least two knives to the chest and back in broad daylight near Wormwood Scrubs Park in west London.
Elijah Gokool-Mely, 18, along with a 14-year-old and a 16-year-old, who cannot be identified due to their ages, are charged with murder and robbery.
The court learned that months before his death, Lee had been purchasing knives online to sell to other teenagers, describing him as “aspirational” and motivated by making money. Lee had initially met the defendants on June 25 and sold them a crossbow. However, they later requested another meeting to purchase knives.
Prosecutor Crispin Aylett, KC, detailed how the alleged attackers fled the scene with Lee’s bike and a rucksack containing the knives after the fatal assault. Witnesses observed the defendants arriving at the scene on bicycles, with one riding on the handlebars.
Victor Lee was just 17-years-old when he was murdered last summer, in broad daylight on the towpath of the Grand Union Canal,” Aylett stated. Two men living on houseboats on the other side of the canal were able to haul Victor onto the bank, but within minutes, he had bled to death.
The court heard that Lee had met with the defendants earlier that day to sell them a crossbow. Later in the afternoon, they requested to purchase knives, to which Lee agreed, sending them a photo of available items. The defendants then returned to the towpath, where Lee was fatally attacked.
Despite the lack of eyewitnesses to the stabbing, one witness observed Gokool-Mely pushing Lee into the canal after the fatal assault.
The trial continues as Gokool-Mely and the two teenagers deny the charges of murder and robbery.
