Abdul Deghayes murder trial jury hears friend’s desperate 999 call

The Abdul Deghayes murder trial jury heard a desperate 999 call made by the victim’s friend Colby Broderick.

Mr Broderick fled the scene after his car Volkswagen Polo car crashed with Mr Deghayes slumped and bleeding to death in the front.

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Two hours after the stabbing he was pleading for news of Mr Deghayes during a 999 call when he said: “I’m worried about being skinned.

“How can I find out if the boy’s ok? I rung the hospital to see if he’s ok and they’re saying he hasn’t even gone to the Brighton hospital.

“He must have been stabbed because there was blood everywhere. Where he grabbed me, there was blood all over me.

“I was scared. I’ve been crying for the last 40 minutes. My head’s all over the place.”

Mr Broderick, 26, went to the police station in John Street, Brighton, the next afternoon (Sunday 17 February) where at first, he was treated as a suspect.

The jury at Hove Crown Court was also played other 999 calls made by people in the Elm Grove area as 22-year-old Mr Deghayes’s life ebbed away after he was stabbed on Saturday 16 February.

Mr Deghayes died at about 6am the next day despite the attempts of paramedics and hospital emergency staff to save him.

Adam Feest, prosecuting, said that after Mr Broderick made a statement and it was corroborated by other evidence, police then treated him as a witness.

He told police that as a wounded Deghayes sheltered behind him, Daniel Macleod – known as Frank – said: “Thank fuck you was here or I would have killed him.”

Macleod, 36, of Gipsy Road, south London, denies murder.

Mr Broderick realised at that time that his friend was badly injured. He could feel his back was wet as Abdul started limping rather wearily.

He said that he heard Mr Macleod mutter “fucking little dick” before he got back into the passenger side of a Citroen C4 which was driven away by a fellow drug dealer Stephen Burns.

Burns, 55, of Lennox Street, Brighton, denies helping Macleod escape the scene and try to cover up his crime.

After Deghayes was stabbed outside Hanover Court, in Wellington Road, Brighton, and Mr Broderick tried to drive him to hospital in the VW Polo, Mr Feest said: “Within seconds, his friend collapsed, making a gargling noise, causing him to crash.”

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He waited at the scene until others were obviously there and then, panicked, distressed, aware that he had been driving without a licence, he walked and then ran away from the scene.

Mr Broderick went to his aunt’s house in Woodingdean. He called the last number that Deghayes had dialled on his telephone – when he had spoken to Mr Macleod to arrange to buy cocaine.

He told Mr Macleod that he thought that he had killed Deghayes. Mr Macleod told him that he had probably passed out and that he would be fine. He also told him to keep his mouth shut.