Prosecutors claim there was a ‘brutal pre-planned ambush’ on 21-year-old Dale Martin
Dale Martin, 21, known to his family and friends as DJ, died following a stabbing on Stenson Road in Derby
A Derby man was killed by a masked gang acting like “a pack of animals” in “a brutal pre-planned ambush,” a murder trial has heard.
Dale Martin was surrounded and stabbed multiple times by a group in what prosecutors claim was “organised, armed, deliberate and targeted retribution” during an ongoing series of “tit-for-tat” incidents between rival groups.
Those on trial for the 21-year-old’s murder subjected their victim to “a frenzied and murderous attack” shortly before midnight on June 15, last year, it is alleged.
The alleged attackers then fled, trying to cover their tracks, in one case going on the run for two months in Europe and two others being arrested at Gatwick Airport having booked flights to Tunisia, a trial was told.
Seven men – Jayden Manion-Roberts, Keenan Hamblet, Ki Grant-Finlayson, Kayin Holmes, Kelci Thompson, Shaylon McCalla, a 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, are on trial for murder at Derby Crown Court, sitting in Loughborough.
Three others – John Sylvester, Bridget Hamblett and Asha Waddilove are on trial for assisting an offender.
They all deny the charges they face.
Police have released six images from the night Dale Martin died(Image: Derbyshire police)
Prosecutor Adrian Langdale KC, opening the trial, said: “On any view this is a case which involves murder, or more precisely, a brutal pre-planned ambush and attack, which in turn led to the murder of a 21-year-old man named Dale Martin – also known as ‘DJ’.
“Dale Martin, the crown say, was attacked by the first seven defendants as part of an organised, armed, deliberate and targeted retribution, following a series of more minor tit for tat incidents that day and seemingly before.
“It is the Crown’s case that at the time of his death Dale Martin was not by any means whiter than white, and was a member of a gang based in the Sinfin area of Derby.
“But he did not deserve to be chased down, surrounded and brutally attacked by these defendants armed with numerous knives, swords and Rambo knives and subjected to a frenzied and murderous attack.”
Mr Langdale said: “The background to the night of the attack is that there was ongoing animosity between the two groups, the group of the deceased and a gang based in Allenton and in particular an area of Derby which is nicknamed, the ‘Allenton triangle’.
“Although ultimately DJ was killed by a stab fatal wound from a machete or sword plunged through the right outer chest that travelled on into and through his liver and only one defendant’s hand could have been on that particular sword or machete as it entered his body when that fatal blow occurred, he suffered numerous other stab and slash wounds, some 11 stabs or slashes from multiple other weapons as these defendants chased him down, waited for him to trip as he tried to get away and then set out about him stabbing multiple times to the head, torso and back as they set about him the crown say like a pack of animals.
“And ‘pack’ is perhaps also the appropriate term, because although one person delivered the fatal blow all seven of these defendants went to the scene armed, balaclavaed up, with a joint plan to ambush and kill, or at the very least cause really serious injury to the deceased or others from his group.”
Police have released six images from the night Dale Martin died(Image: Derbyshire police)
Mr Langdale said following the fatal attack, what he referred to as “a mass of others” came together to assist the group as they went about trying to dispose of evidence and flee the Derby area in the aftermath.
Mr Langdale said: “This murder, rather than being a random act of violence, was instead being the culmination of a war of retribution which had broken out between two rival groups.
“Frankly why they ended up falling out, is ultimately irrelevant to your decision making, because fall out the two groups did, so that the origins for the planned ambush, attack and ultimately the murder, covers a series of escalating events.
“We shall focus in on the previous 24 hours leading to the murder, although undoubtedly there were other incidents you may well hear about during the course of the trial, which led to considerable animosity between the defendant’s group and Dale Martin the deceased in particular.”
Mr Langdale said the day before the killing there had been a disagreement near Spider Island between Mr Martin and Kayin Holmes and another man during which a knife was brandished.
He said shortly before 6pm the following day, Mr Martin and his friends were at a gender reveal party at the Oaklands pub, in Oaklands Avenue, Littleover, when two masked males arrived on an electric bike and they attempted to get in brandishing machetes.
The prosecutor said the Crown say that led to a “revenge” mission at around 11pm on the address of Ki Grant-Finlayson in Allenton by Mr Martin’s group who were also possibly armed before that left satisfied they had done enough to frighten him.
Police have released six images from the night Dale Martin died(Image: Derbyshire police)
Mr Langdale said: “It will be the Crown’s case that Ki Grant-Finlayson immediately summoned the troops – in an urgent call to arms, which only these defendants (the other six on trial for murder) responded to.
“These defendants and a few others were – with one exception – all part of the same Snapchat group called ‘Hoods**t’.”
The prosecutor said the group, all wearing balaclavas, formed and travelled to the Stenson Road area where they surrounded a Renault Megane containing Mr Martin which they attacked with weapons.
He said the deceased, having been dragged out of the car, tried to flee from the scene but was surrounded and stabbed multiple times.
Mr Langdale told the jury: “You will see and hear his final words as he staggers down the road to seek help from multiple addresses until one couple eventually answer their door to him and provide him with assistance.
“In the hours, days and even weeks that follow a campaign is orchestrated to destroy any evidence linking these defendants to the offence, with the assistance of numerous other offenders.
“Each will flee the area or go on the run.”
The prosecutor said Waddilove, who he described as “the loyal girlfriend of McCalla,” assisted in “whisking him away,” along with others to travel to Dover and flee the Country to France and go on the run for two months in Holland.
The seven people on trial for murder are: Jayden Manion-Roberts, 25, of Tennyson Street, Allenton; Keenan Hamblet, 26, of Osmaston Park Road, Allenton; Ki Grant-Finlayson, 23, of Langley Road, Spondon; Kayin Holmes, 25, of Nightingale Road, Osmaston; Kelci Thompson, 19, of Osmaston Road, Derby; Shaylon McCalla, 26, of Copes Way, Chaddesden and a 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
The three on trial for assisting an offender are: John Sylvester, 20, of Regan Road, Allenton; Bridget Hamblett, 57, of Osmaston Park Road, Allenton, and Asha Waddilove, 20, of Ashworth Avenue, Chaddesden.
The trial, which is expected to last four months, continues.
