Cabbie helped teenage boy accused of murdering 32-year-old man purchase knives in Southend

A cabbie helped a teenage boy accused of murdering a man in Ipswich to buy knives, a court has heard.
Cab driver Olusola Durojaiye, told police he picked up the 17-year-old and three other youths and drove them to a souvenir shop in Southend.
He went on to add he helped them purchase some knives from the shop by "vouching" for them by giving the shopkeeper his ID. The court heard how the 17-year-old boy had come out from the shop after being refused the purchase of the knives because he couldn't prove his age.
He asked Durojaiye to assist the purchase by showing his ID to the seller. Durojaiye told the police that after giving the shopkeeper his details he had gone back to his car and the youths had paid for the knives. The 17-year-old youth, who can't be named, is accused of murdering 32-year-old Daniel Saunders, who was stabbed in an alleyway in Ipswich on 16 December 2018. The defendant is on trial at Ipswich Crown Court along with five others, who deny assisting an offender by disposing of his clothing and harbouring him at a caravan park. As reported in the Ipswich Star, they are Arjun Jadeja, 18, of The Nook, Wivenhoe; Benjamin Gosbell, 20, of Gratian Close, Highwoods, Colchester; Durojaiye, 33, of Appleton Mews, Colchester; a 16-year-old boy from Bury St Edmunds, and a 17-year-old boy from Colchester. Prosecuting, Simon Spence QC, has alleged that two of the defendants, one being the alleged 17-year-old killer, bought a large blade and a machete from the shop in Southend where cabbie Durojaiye assisted the purchase. The court heard how the 17-year-old accused of murdering Mr Saunders met him and his friend, Ben Wright, in an alleyway near Turin Street, Ipswich, and Mr Wright had bought some drugs from him. Moments later Mr Wright said he heard Mr Saunders scream out and then saw him running away seriously injured. The court has heard that the 17-year-old told police that Mr Saunders and Mr Wright had tried to rob him in the alleyway, and that he had grabbed a knife being carried by Mr Wright and stabbed Mr Saunders in self-defence. The trial continues.
Title image: Victim 32-year-old Daniel Saunders
Image: Source; Suffolk Police