Drug dealer says that he stabbed Brighton man to death in self-defence

A drug dealer said that he stabbed a Brighton man to death in self-defence while selling him a bag of cocaine.

Daniel Macleod, 37, told a jury at Hove Crown Court that Abdul Deghayes had tried to rob him at knifepoint.

Macleod, of Gipsy Road, south London, said that Deghayes had “come at him” with a knife and tried to rob him just off Elm Grove, Brighton, on Saturday 16 February.

Deghayes, 22, of Chadborn Close, Brighton, suffered eight stab wounds and died the next morning at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, in Brighton.

Macleod said that he only saw the knife when Deghayes got out of the car in a driveway at Hanover Court, Brighton.

He said that Deghayes told him: “Give me what you’ve got. I said, ‘are you trying to rob me?’

“He was coming at me with a knife. It was quite big. It was maybe 6in to 7in – the blade – the bit that I could see.

“It all happened so quick. I dropped the bag of cocaine. I grabbed his hand. We wrestled over the knife.

“I was panicking. I knew I was in trouble. I was vulnerable. It was self-preservation. I just didn’t want to get hurt.

“We were fighting over the knife. I was shaking his hand I was trying to make him let go of it. He was above me.

“I was trying to make him whack it into his leg.”

Macleod told the jury that the pair struggled behind a car for maybe a minute.

He said: “I was sweating. I was nervous. I was scared.

“I didn’t know any of this would happen. I didn’t mean for this to happen. It was all out control.”

Edward Henry, defending, said: “Did there come a point when you managed to disarm him?”

Macleod said: “Eventually.”

Deghayes dropped the knife and it fell downhill away from the pair.

Macleod said: “I panicked. I ran to get the knife before he did.

“He was on one. He wasn’t messing around. He wanted to get the knife before I did.”

Mr Henry said: “Who got to the knife first?”

Macleod said: “I did. Just about.”

He said that Deghayes was aggressive and “on the attack” and “like a man possessed” but it was survival of the fittest.

It was only then that Macleod said that he stabbed Deghayes in the thigh as he tried to fend him off.

He added: “I was trying not to lose the bag of coke that I would have to pay for.”

Mr Henry said: “Can you recall how many times you stabbed him?”

Macleod said: “I thought I only stabbed him twice.”

Mr Henry said: “Did those injuries have any effect?”

Macleod said: “No.”

Mr Henry said: “Did he make any gestures or say anything that would indicate that he was in pain?

Macleod said: “No.”

Macleod said that his delivery driver stayed in his car – as did Deghayes’s friend Colby Broderick – because the struggle was quick.

Referring to Deghayes, he said: “He was trying to kill me.”

He denies murder. The trial continues.