Yemurai Kanyangara with his mother

A teenager discovered a knife lying on a ledge as he waited for a bus hours before a young boy was killed with a single stab wound to the neck in Welling, a court heard today (Friday April 13).

The 15-year-old boy, from Peckham, who cannot be named for legal reasons, took the stand at the Old Bailey. He and two other teenagers, aged 16, have denied murdering a GCSE student Yemurai Kanyangarara after he got off a bus in Upper Wickham Lane, Welling on July 1 last year.

The boy who was 14 at the time told the court he found the knife in Dartford saying he picked it up because he was scared and through stupidity.

He told defence counsel Miss Miranda Moore the knife was lying on “some ledge”. He said he did not leave home with it, but he “found it”.

He was on his way to Plumstead police station to talk about an incident just four days earlier in which his friend, one of his co-defendents, had been injured. He said he took a long route to get there and doubled up from Dartford through Bexleyheath because he did not feel it was safe to take a direct route.

The boy said he did not carry knives and his parents had told him not to.

The knife, which was not the murder weapon, was later recovered behind an advertising hoarding in Welling, after 16-year-old Yemurai’s death.

Jurors heard the boy describe he threw it away as he did not need it.

The Stanley knife was produced in court and prosecutor Peter Finnigan QC asked the youth to describe how he discovered it.

The teen said: “It was on a ledge, just a wooden ledge.”

Mr Finnigan said: “It’s a nasty weapon,” to which the youth replied: “If that’s what you think. It’s just a weapon.”

Earlier the boy told the court: “It’s an unfortunate event, it should not have happened. Someone’s lost their life.”

He said he initially lied to police in his first statements and claimed he did not have the knife in his trainer. He told the court he put it in his shoe so it was hidden away. He said: “it was not easy access.”

He said he lied as his parents would be upset he was carrying a knife.

And he told the court the knife was not used and he rejected the idea that an ambush had been planned.

The court later heard a reference describing another defendant as a boy with a bright future.

The hearing continues at the Old Bailey.