Champion Ganda trial: Jury hear harrowing 999 call of moment teen is stabbed in the head twice
17-year-old Champion Ganda. - Credit: Archant
A juror was brought to tears after a dramatic 999 call was played to the court of an eyewitness describing a teenager being stabbed to death.
The witness appeared at the Old Bailey yesterday to provide evidence on what he saw on the day Champion Ganda, of Harold Hill, died.
Champion suffered up to 11 stab wounds in Sandringham Road, Forest Gate, and died at the scene, on May 9, 2013.
Devante Clifford, 20, of Lawrence Street, Canning Town, Marvin Simos, 19, of Canning Town, and Amani Lynch, 19, of Canterbury Way, Stevenage, are all charged with murder, attempted murder and GBH.
The court heard how the teaching assistant who worked at Sandringham Primary School in 2013 was alerted to an altercation on the street after hearing loud “shouting”.
He had been waiting for a delivery with two other members of staff when a fight broke out.
But after the shouting continued, all three staff members made their way round to the front of the school to see what was happening.
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The witness describes seeing two men approaching another two men, believed to be Champion and his friend.
He recalls one of the duo approaching “asking for a machete” but soon after had a hammer in his hand and “tried to hit” Champion in the head with it.
A scuffle broke out which allegedly led to Champion having the man with a hammer in a headlock before a fifth man came into view.
The teaching assistant described the fifth man approaching Champion from behind before stabbing him in his right side.
The suspect is then said to proceed by stabbing the 17-year-old in the head twice as he continued to have another in a headlock.
A 999 call played to the court heard the distressed eyewitness tell the operator “he’s stabbed him in the head”.
Paramedics rushed to the scene but were unable to save Champion after he suffered a cardiac arrest.
A post-mortem examination found that one stab wound which passed through Champion’s right side was the fatal injury after it caused his right lung to collapse.
All three defendants deny murder.
The trial continues.
