A teenage stabbing victim gasped "I just got stabbed, help me" after he was knifed though his car window, a court has heard.
Stefan Balaban, 19, was able to drive his car a short distance following the brutal attack, with the dying teen able to catch the attention of an Uber driver who heard his last words. The driver called the emergency services and an air ambulance arrived for the Romanian teen, who was deemed beyond help and died of his wounds.
Prosecutors have alleged he was killed following the attack on Whitchurch Lane, Edgware by 18-year-old Hadi Shuman in what is likely to be a dispute over drug dealing turf. The Old Bailey heard Balaban was dealing drugs, with police discovering an unsheathed large knife, cocaine, weighing scales, snap bags and a mobile phone containing messages related to drugs in his Vauxhall Corsa.
Prosecuting, Catherine Pattison argued Shuman had used a knife in his possession to stab the teen through his chest. She said: "There is no dispute in this case that it was Hadi Shuman who killed Stefan Balaban and that he did so by stabbing him once to the chest using a knife that he, Hadi Shuman had with him. What you will have to decide in this trial is why he did so and what his state of mind was at the time and whether he was or may have been acting in self-defence as will be suggested on his behalf."
Ms Pattison said Shuman killed Balaban with "murderous intent": "We say the defendant, Hadi Shuman, killed Stefan Balaban with murderous intent by stabbing him in the chest." Shuman, who is now 18 but was 17 at the time of the incident, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Balaban and possession of a bladed article.
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The court heard that Shuman was captured on CCTV leaving the Edgware underground station in the early hours of Friday, July 28, 2023, alongside five friends roughly 15 minutes before the murder. The footage captured the group sprinting down Whitchurch lane as a heavily bleeding Mr Balaban drove a short distance away, bleeding heavily.
The stabbing victim stopped next to a parked BMW Uber on Whitchurch Lane, with driver Mamum Islam saying he locked his doors and called the emergency services as Mr Balaban told him: "I just got stabbed. Help me." A post-mortem of the teen's body found he had sustained a single stab wound to the left side of his chest, and a defensive injury to his wrist. The trial continues.
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