UK Murder Defendant Refuses to Name Names, Saying It Could Put Him in ‘Danger’

The "Lady of Justice," a 12-foot-high gold leaf statue, is pictured on top of the dome of the Central Criminal Court, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey, in central London on Aug. 21, 2016. (Niklas Halle'n/AFP via Getty Images)

LONDON—A man on trial for murder has refused to identify another individual who was caught on CCTV moments before a gang member was stabbed to death, saying it could put him in “danger.”

Tristan Bullock, 21, Donte McCalla, 21, and Darius Kwakye, 29, all deny murdering Salem Koudou in Brixton, south London, in August 2020.

Bullock’s younger brother, Yaseen, was convicted of murdering Koudou at a previous trial.

The jury has heard Koudou, a member of the All ‘Bout Money (ABM) gang from Stockwell, drove onto the Angell Town estate in Brixton with two accomplices planning to launch an attack on the rival 150 gang.

After their car crashed and overturned, the two other men in the car fled but Koudou, who was armed with a huge Black Panther machete, stabbed Tyreicke Williams before a group of up to 15 people, several of whom were armed, chased him off the estate.

Koudou was then chased into a cul-de-sac on the other side of the main Brixton Road, where he was surrounded and stabbed to death.

On Monday, Bullock went into the witness box to give his own version of the events of Aug. 20, 2020, and on Tuesday he was cross examined by prosecutor Oliver Glasgow, KC.

Defendant Refuses to Name ‘Male 9’

At one point Glasgow showed him CCTV footage of the incident and pointed out an individual who has not been identified by police and is known only as Male 9.

Glasgow asked Bullock if he knew Male 9 and he replied, “I’m not prepared to name him.”

“Why not?” asked the prosecutor.

“I could be in danger,” replied Bullock.

“Are you scared of him?” asked Glasgow.

“No,” he replied.

“But you won’t name him?”

“No,” Bullock replied again.

Later Glasgow pointed out that at a previous trial Bullock had refused to identify an individual called Male 18, who was later identified by police as McCalla.

Glasgow pointed out that during that trial he had said he feared his family would be in danger if he named him.

“If you name names who is going to be cross about it?” asked the prosecutor.

“A lot of people. It may not be the person I name. It could be other people,” Bullock replied.

‘Stood and Watched’

The prosecutor then interrogated him about his actions on the day of the murder and asked what he did when Koudou was attacked.

“I stood and watched it, just like the witness watched it,” he replied, referring to a woman who gave evidence during the trial.

“The difference is that the witness was in a house at the time and she rang the police and told them what was happening. But you did nothing, didn’t you?” asked Glasgow.

“I prevented a man from being hurt,” replied Bullock.

The prosecutor asked, “How did you do that?”

“I moved the machete,” he replied.

“But he had already been stabbed 32 times by then. The machete wasn’t going to make much difference, was it?” asked Glasgow.

“It could have,” said Bullock.

Glasgow then asked him if he was “disgusted” by what his friends had done to Koudou.

Bullock replied: “They weren’t my friends. They were just people I knew.”

Glasgow went on: “Were you disgusted by what the people you knew had done?”

“Yes. I was disgusted by what happened,” he replied.

“Did you ask them, ‘Why did you do that?’” asked Glasgow.

“No,” replied Bullock.

Last week McCalla told the jury he only chased after the victim because he saw others running and he was “curious.”

McCalla was asked by his barrister, Jenny Dempster, KC, why he began running.

“I don’t know. I was curious and wanted to find out what was going on,” McCalla replied.

Glasgow has told the jury the ABM gang had a violent rivalry with the 150 gang and their allies, the 410 gang from the nearby Myatts Field estate.

The trial continues.