Bristol has a ‘culture of knife carrying by teenage boys’ - jury is told at start of murder trial

An 18-year-old was stabbed to death by an opposing gang member - who himself fled the murder scene with three knife wounds and ended up in hospital, a court heard.

A jury at Bristol Crown Court heard how there was a culture of knife carrying by teenagers in the city as a murder trial started following the death of Dontae Davis in Lawrence Hill last October.

Standing accused in the dock was Kairon Sawyers, 19, who wore a navy suit and tie. He denies murdering Dontae during a knife fight which broke out between three teenagers.

The court heard that around 6.20pm on October 14 2021, Dontae and two friends aged 15 and 17 came across Sawyers who was riding his bike near the Lawrence Hill roundabout.

An altercation that quickly became ‘hostile’ followed, with the four teenagers running down an alleyway before the three older boys emerged on Clarence Road armed with large knives, the court heard.

CCTV footage allegedly shows Sawyers stabbing Dontae in the chest, before Sawyers himself appears to be stabbed by the 17-year-old boy.

After the 15-year-old ran to Trinity Police Station nearby and raised the alarm, the emergency services arrived shortly afterwards, with paramedics commencing best efforts to save Dontae who was found bleeding heavily in the road.

But it was ‘too late’ as the knife had punctured Dontae’s aortic arch, and the teenager ‘died in the street’, the jury was told.

Opening the case for prosecution, Andrew Langdon QC told the court that the fight was believed to be gang-related after Sawyers and Dontae had been identified as members of opposing groups of youths.

Addressing the jury, he said: “You will know that it has become a feature in many urban areas, and Bristol is no exception, that there is a culture of knife carrying by teenage boys.

“Unfortunately, there exists in east Bristol rival gangs known as the 1 6s and the 2 4s.

“There have been a number of incidents over recent years between teenagers associated with these two groups. Some of them have involved the use of knives and stabbings.

"What lay behind the knife fight in the streets of Bristol on October 14 last year? What was the reason for it?"

He went on to say that Sawyers had abandoned his bike and fled the alleged murder scene by taxi with three stab wounds, before presenting at South Bristol Community Hospital where he was later arrested.

The fight is thought to have been preceded by a ‘chance encounter’, even though CCTV reveals that Dontae and his 17-year-old associate had purchased a knife from a shop in Kingswood on the morning of the attack.

Dontae was thought to be a member of the 1 6s, while Sawyers is involved with the 2 4s and known under the street name ‘K1’, and Mr Langdon urged the jury to consider this point throughout the trial.

He told them: “Given that we have CCTV which shows the violence, and in particular the infliction of stab wounds, including the fatal stab wound - the focus on evidence will be on those very few seconds.

“Of course, if the CCTV stood alone, you would have no understanding of what lay behind the violence.

“A knife fight, two against one where the outnumbered defendant had received three wounds, two to the back, may well on its own suggest to you that Sawyers was a mere victim who happened to have a knife with him with which to defend himself.

“But the evidence of background hostility between those two groups is important.

“It continued after the killing. On November 4, a video was posted on Youtube showing Kairon Sawyers and his asssociated burning a green bandana, known to be something worn on occasion by Dontae Davis’ associates, the 1 6s.

“Indeed, such a bandana was in his possesion when he was killed.

“The prosecution says that Sawyers set out to inflict injury to Dontae Davis and he succeeded in doing so, despite the fact he was outnumbered by two youths who in turn succeeded in stabbing him.”

The trial, before The Recorder of Bristol Judge Peter Blair QC, is expected to last two weeks.

The trial continues.