Olly Stephens murder trial: Accused boy gives evidence at court

The defendant, who is the elder of two boys accused of causing Olly’s death in Bugs Bottom fields on January 3, 2021, gave evidence over two days this week.

Both he and the co-defendant, who cannot be named for legal reason, deny the murder charges.

To learn more about the defendant and his actions before and after Olly's death, listen to the audio clip below for more details given in evidence

The elder boy has already pleaded guilty to manslaughter, however, and one count of perverting the course of justice.

His evidence followed testimonies from the younger defendant who last week claimed he did not mean to kill 13-year-old Olly after inflicting the 13-year-old with two stab wounds.

READ MORE: What the defendant said on day one of his evidence

The ‘breakdown’

First taking to the witness box on Wednesday, July 14, the elder defendant said he first met Olly, who he counted as a friend, at the end of 2019.

Quizzed by his defence counsel Rossano Scamardella QC, the boy told the jury how he felt ‘guilty’ and ‘upset’ following Olly’s death.

Asked why this was, he added that he felt ‘remorseful’ for ‘the part I had in his death’.

The boy revealed that the fight which preceded Olly being stabbed was arranged following a breakdown in his friendship with the 13-year-old.

He told the court: “There was an issue with someone where I sent a message to a group chat [which had Olly in it].

“It was a video of someone's brother getting patterned [which means 'humiliated', according to the boy].

“Olly screenshotted and sent it to [the brother of the boy being 'humiliated'].”

The boy would then confront Olly for ‘snaking’ him and ‘snitching on the group chat’.

READ MORE: What the defendant said on day two of his evidence

The setup

Following this, the defendant asked a girl to ‘set up’ Olly Stephens so he would meet at a pre-arranged location unaware he was about to be confronted via a ‘one-on-one’ fight with the boy.

He claimed the younger defendant, who stabbed Olly, was not meant to get involved and that he was merely meant to be a ‘witness’.

Last week, the younger defendant claimed the elder boy had asked him to bring a knife to the fight.

READ MORE: Here's what happened in the second week of the Olly Stephens murder trial

But the elder defendant denied this in his evidence to his lawyer, a barrister for the other defendant and the prosecution, claiming he had no knowledge the other boy had a knife until he pulled it out and stabbed Olly Stephens.

Prosecuting, Alison Morgan QC described this as “complete nonsense.”

The fight

Recalling how the fight with Olly unfolded at Bugs Bottom, the boy told the court he threw the first punch at the 13-year-old after the younger defendant had an argument with the victim.

But Olly started to ‘get the better’ of the elder defendant, which resulted in the younger defendant ‘going red’, the elder claimed.

He continued: “He completely lost it and started getting shaky. He pulled out a knife and stabbed Olly.

"He ran towards Olly and stabbed him.

"I saw it [the knife] land in what I believed was his stomach.

"Olly put his hand to his stomach and said 'you stabbed me'. He repeated himself a few times.

READ MORE: Everything the boy accused of fatally stabbing Olly Stephens said in his evidence

"[The younger defendant] just froze. He didn't really know what happened and then stabbed him again.

“I froze and I didn't know how to react. He [the younger boy] told me to get on his scooter and we ran away through the entrance we came from.

“I was swearing at him, I called him a dickhead for stabbing him and asked him numerous times why he did it", the boy added.

The boy said that he did see Olly get stabbed, despite allegations from Timothy Raggatt QC that he did not, but that ultimately he did not intend for the 13-year-old to be seriously harmed or killed that day at Bugs Bottom.

And according to the defendant, Olly was not stabbed a second time after being pushed back by him onto the younger defendant’s knife -- as the younger boy had claimed last week -- rather, the younger boy stabbed the 13-year-old in the back in a ‘twisting’ motion, he claimed.

He acknowledged he did nothing to help Olly Stephens after he was stabbed and left him at the scene.

The aftermath

The boy described not wanting to be with the younger boy after the stabbing, and subsequently they went their separate ways.

Rather than go home, however, the elder boy met with friends in Reading town centre.

READ MORE: Stabbing of Olly Stephens 'wasn't supposed to be a murder', teen tells court

He said he did this because he was ‘worried and needed someone to talk to’.

Describing his reaction after the altercation with Olly, the boy said: “I was panicked and shocked, I was quite shaky, I was upset. I didn't really know how to speak."

He later met another friend near Cemetery Junction in the evening, when the younger defendant joined the duo with a Foot Asylum bag full of the clothes he was wearing at the time of the incident.

According to the older defendant, the younger boy asked him if he could help him dispose of the bag by ‘burning’ it.

Ultimately, another boy threw the bag onto nearby train tracks, the court heard.

The jury also heard how the older boy had got rid of some gloves because he thought they had Olly Stephens’ blood on them.

He said he learned of Olly’s passing that same evening when a mutual friend had called the group to tell them.

The older boy then told the younger boy to hand himself in at a police station, he claimed.

READ MORE: Why we can't name the teenagers accused of murdering Olly Stephens

He later handed himself in at Loddon Valley Police Station in the early hours of the morning on January 4, following advice from his solicitor, whereas the younger boy was arrested nearly two hours later.

READ MORE: Olly Stephens was 'lured' to 'knife ambush', court hears

The boy’s evidence concluded on July 15, 2021. The trial continues.

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