Greenstead murder trial begins at Chelmsford Crown Court

Alinjavwa Siwale, 22, was stabbed and died in the kitchen of his Colchester home while his younger brother Suwi frantically cried out for help.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard Phoenix Lee, 19, and Sheldon McKay, 25, carried out a swift attack “lasting less than two minutes” on December 11 last year.

The jury were played CCTV footage capturing the front of the house the Siwale brothers shared in Affleck Road, on Colchester’s Greenstead estate.

Lee and McKay do not dispute the footage shows the pair approach the front of the house.

A figure, the prosecution says is Lee, takes a short run up before kicking in the front door.

The court heard the door was unsecure after a police raid on the house weeks earlier.

The brothers had attempted to barricade the door with two boxes containing trampolines and a kitchen table top.

A next door neighbour reported being awoken shortly after midnight to the sound of “banging and scuffling” coming from the property.

The court heard the mother-of-four found the sound “alarming enough for her to jump out of bed”.

Read more >> Trial set to begin after fatal stabbing of father and aspiring rapper

At about 12.14am, she heard yelling and screaming which she recognised as the voice of one of the brothers who lived next door.

Looking out of her bedroom window, she saw Suwi climbing over her fence, before running across her garden shouting for help.

The neighbour rushed downstairs to the back door and found Suwi “frantic and heavily blood stained”.

Tributes left to Alinjavwa Siwale in Affleck Road

A call was made to the ambulance service and Suwi made a desperate plea for the neighbour to save his brother.

When the neighbour noticed police cars approaching, she felt safe enough to enter the property, where she found Alinjavwa lying on his back with a wound she described as “two slash injuries to his chest”.

Police followed her inside and Alinjavwa was pronounced dead at 12.35am.

In his hand police found a portion of a blade wrapped in a sock to form a makeshift handle.

The court heard a hilted combat knife and sheath were found inside the property.

The blade was covered in Alinjavwa’s blood, and the prosecution say the DNA of Lee and Lee’s girlfriend was found on the handle.

Jane Bickerstaff QC, prosecuting, said: “The evidence would suggest Mr Lee and Mr McKay entered [the address] with force at 12.12am that night, with Mr Lee going inside first and armed with that combat knife.

“It is not suggested [Lee’s girlfriend] was present. The significance of the fact she had clearly touched the knife sheath and knife handle at some earlier stage, or her DNA had been transferred onto it, is proof that knife was taken into the premises by Phoenix Lee.”

In the hours after the stabbing, the prosecution say McKay headed to a friend’s address in Teal Close alongside Lee.

The police were called after an occupant heard noises at the back door.

A police officer arrived at the home after 3am and found McKay outside. McKay had bloodstains on the right sleeve of his grey top.

The officer noticed another man in the garden, but when he asked the man to give himself up, he fled.

The officer noted the second man had blood on his clothes and face.

The prosecution say this man was Lee. McKay was arrested and gave no comment in police interview.

Lee handed himself in at Colchester Police Station on December 13, but his clothing and footwear have never been recovered. He also answered no comment to all questions asked.

The pair are expected to say they acted in self defence.

Ms Bickerstaff said: “The Crown say these two defendants acted together in a joint enterprise attack.

“Once inside the property they acted swiftly in that short window of time.

“Alinjavwa Siwale was fatally stabbed and was also slashed and stabbed a number of times.”

She added: “The evidence would suggest that Mr Lee provided that weapon which was if not the murder weapon, one of the murder weapons. 

“Although that knife was recovered in the premises, the Crown does not exclude Mr McKay was armed with a second weapon which was never recovered.” 

She said: “Mr McKay, we do know, was heavily covered in the victim’s blood. 

“The Crown cannot say whether one or the other or both of the defendants was the inflicter of the fatal wound and or other fatal injuries. 

“What we can say is the timing and location and the speed of the incident, the extent and the severity of the injuries, the additional wound caused to Suwi, are not consistent with any act of reasonable self defence.”

Lee and McKay, of no fixed address, deny murder and causing grievous bodily harm.

• The trial continues.