A handyman was stabbed 13 times by two teenagers armed with an axe and a knife after he confronted them for taunting and spitting at his girlfriend, a court heard today.
Paul Thrower, 46, had become “absolutely enraged” after a group of youths spat and threw drink at his girlfriend Geraldine Roberts as she returned from the shops, the Old Bailey heard.
The father rushed out of his first-floor flat in Hayes “screaming and shouting obscenities” at the teenagers, two of whom barricaded themselves behind a communal door in the block of flats, jurors were told.
Opening the case today, the prosecution said Zakariya Subeir, 18, and Kiro Halliburton, also 18, set upon Mr Thrower as he smashed his way through one of the door’s glass panels and crawled through. They were believed to have been armed with an axe and at least one knife,
Peter Finnegan QC, for the prosecution, said: “As he came through he had absolutely no chance at all.
“As he went through he was attacked with this vicious weapon. He was struck some three times with the axe, it seems twice on the top of his head and another axe blow caught him on the right shoulder and an in addition to the axe blows, he suffered as many as 10 wounds to his upper body and many of those wounds were on his back.”
The two teenagers fled with two other youths, who are also charged with murder. Mr Thrower tried to pursue them clutching the bloody axe, but collapsed, the court heard. He died in hospital on the same day, February 20 this year.
Subeir and Halliburton and their two co-defendants, who cannot be named for legal reasons, all deny murder. The trial continues.
