Smethwick murder accused tells jury he was scared of 17-year-old Derlano

Cam'Ron Dunn is accused of initially twice stabbing Derlano Samuels, aged 17, in the street before chasing him into the Nowa Polka shop, in Waterloo Road, Cape Hill, Smethwick, shortly after 4.10pm on May 1 last year.

He was then allegedly captured on film stabbing the teen multiple times with a machete in the storeroom.

Giving evidence in the witness box at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Dunn said that he acted in self-defence following an altercation with a group in a white Ford Focus in the high street. He told the jury that the occupants were friends of Derlano's.

The jury previously heard the car was driven away as Derlano arrived in the street on foot and he was not party to the incident.

Dunn told the jury he did not know Derlano personally, but "knew of him" from social media and was aware that Derlano was associated to members of an urban street gang known as B66, a reference to the area's postcode.

He told the jury that he thought it was "100 per cent likely" that Derlano would be armed.

Mr Jason Bartfeld QC, defending barrister, asked Dunn: "When you saw him how did you feel?"

Dunn replied: "I was scared."

Mr Bartfeld said: "Was he a threat to you?"

Dunn replied: "100 per cent.

"As he walked towards me he asked me where I was from. He sounded hostile.

"I replied that I was from Smethwick and that I lived there. His voice changed and his body language changed. I thought he was going to try to stab me and that's when I reacted," Dunn said.

"He posed a threat to me and so did his friends," he told the jury.

Dunn told the jury that he was previously associated with B66 and was sent to Burton-upon-Trent, in Staffordshire, to sell drugs in a house in 2019 at age 16. He told the jury the arrangement ended after he was stabbed in the legs and robbed of items by a group of up to seven who raided the property.

"The one I was doing the drugs with said I owed him because I got robbed and it was my fault," Dunn told the jury.

The jury previously heard that Derlano sustained 12 injuries including cuts, slashes and an incision into his ribcage.

The jury was shown video footage of the 17-year-old leaving the shop and then being picked up in the street by the people in the car after he was attacked.

He was pronounced dead at 5pm. Death was caused by a stab wound to the chest.

The jury has heard that the weapon allegedly used in the incident has not been recovered.

Dunn, of Sketchley Close, Smethwick, denies murder. The trial continues.