6 days Ago By [email protected] (Sean McPolin)
A frantic 999 call made after a young man was fatally stabbed in the heart by his girlfriend’s cousin has been played in court. Jack Cadwallader was fatally knifed by Paige Poulton , 20, after a row broke out at a flat in Harrietsham, near Maidstone , on July 2 last year. Yesterday (April 14), the distressed call made to emergency services after Mr Cadwallader was injured was played to the jury of six men and six women.
During the short clip, panicked shouting can be heard, with the deceased’s partner Shannon Byrne heard saying: “Can you help me? He’s been stabbed. My partner has been stabbed.” The call handler repeatedly ask where the incident – which happened in Southfields Way – had taken place and asked for an address.
In the background of the call, someone can be heard saying: “Press on the body. Give him CPR, give him CPR. Mouth to mouth.
” Footage of a group stood next to a car , which was later used to transport Mr Cadwallader to Maidstone hospital, where he passed away hours later, was also played to the jury. In the clip, people can be seen moving around a car which has its light on, with one person walking around with their hands on their heads. Poulton, who was 19 at the time of the killing, denies murder.
Mr Cadwallader’s friend Matt Smith told the court how he had taken his friend to the address in Harrietsham – where the mother of his son lived – as Mr Cadwallader wanted to get his partner and Mr Smith was concerned people were doing drugs and drinking around his young son. He picked Mr Cadwallader just before 1am and described him as as calm, and that the pair were “having a laugh” before they arrived at the property where Mr Cadwallader “jumped out the car” before it had even stopped. “I walked in and Jack was in the living room area when Paige hit him twice in the mouth which caused bleeding to his lip,” Mr Smith told the jury.
He added: “I remember Jack laughing it off and she picked up the knife from the counter top. “I told him ‘come on mate, she has a blade, let’s just leave’.” Mr Smith claims as he walked out the flat, with Mr Cadwallader behind him, Poulton appeared with the knife and Mr Cadwallader picked up a chair to “use as a barrier”.
The witness added how Poulton’s boyfriend, who was also at the flat, then “goaded” Mr Cadwallader, which prompted him to put down the chair and walk towards him. “Paige came out from behind her boyfriend and stabbed him,” he said. “It was a substantial amount of force.
It was quite hard and quite quick.” Defending, Stephen Moses, suggested to Mr Smith that Cadwallader had arrived in an aggressive manner and made threats to kill Poulton and her boyfriend before “charging at them with a chair”. Mr Smith said this wasn’t true.
On Thursday (April 10), Mr Cadwallder’s girlfriend, Ms Byrne, gave evidence about the events in the run up to the incident. During a 90-minute police interview played to the court, she explained how the pair frequently argued and said he had abused her physically and mentally in the past. The day before Mr Cadwallader was killed, he and Ms Byrne had met up with his mother as she was due to be sentenced at court the following day.
Giving evidence after her interview was played, and being asked about the events of that day, Ms Byrne explained how she and Mr Cadwallader had been arguing throughout the day and due to him taking drugs he had turned into “a different person”, who would become paranoid and aggressive. In an effort to de-escalate the situation, and after bumping into her cousin Paige Poulton, Ms Bibiana Valery, and Clive Harris, Ms Byrne took the train with them to Ms Valery’s home in Southfields Way, Harrietsham, and spent the night drinking. That was until just after 1am when when Mr Cadwallader turned up to the flat, being driven by friend Matt Smith, and exiting the car while it was still moving.
Immediately after the stabbing, after Mr Cadwallaer had been driven to Maidstone Hospital by friend Matt Smith, Ms Byrne told officers how Mr Cadwallader had “ran” into the property to see if there were men inside with his partner. Speaking about the incident, she added: “Basically he normally hits me. My cousin thought he was going to hit me – as f****** usual.
Then she grabbed a knife and stabbed him.” In the original conversation with officers, she also said: “He was going mad. I was scared he was going to hit me again.
” She added: “He looked so mad. I was s******* my pants.” After being told Mr Cadwallader had died in hospital, Ms Byrne told officers: “I don’t think she had any intention to do anything with it [the knife].
“I genuinely think she was doing it to scare him away.” During her recorded police interview two days later, Ms Byrne “corrected” her statement she made to police and told them how Poulton had stabbed him “with the intention to cause damage”. Defending, Stephen Moses, suggested when Mr Cadwallader had came into the home aggressively and was punched by Poulton, who believed her cousin was going to be hurt, and then told her “I’m going to f****** hurt you.
” Ms Byrne said her partner and Poulton’s then argued before Mr Cadwallader offered to fight Mr Harris outside. Things spilled out to the flat patio where Poulton allegedly exclaimed she was "going to go f***ing mad", grabbed a knife from the kitchen and then ran back to stand beside Mr Harris at the patio doors. Mr Cadwallader's response was to first hold up his phone as if recording and saying "she's got a knife".
Ms Byrne, thinking that her cousin only wanted to scare him away, told him however that she did not have one. Mr Cadwallader was still outside when he dropped his phone and picked up a metal chair, using the legs to ward off Poulton. Describing the moment he was allegedly attacked, prosecutor Sarah Jones KC told the court: "She was standing by the double doors on the patio area.
"He (Mr Cadwallader) was directing the legs of the chair towards her and Mr Harris. Then Ms Byrne saw Ms Poulton stab, with intention, hard, into the left side of Mr Cadwallader's chest. "She said she did it really quickly but really hard.
" Mr Cadwallader's response was to put the chair down and appear calm. But he then collapsed on the grass, bleeding to death. Mr Smith later told police he had seen Poulton step forward and, using a "swinging motion and quite a lot of force", stabbed his friend.
As Mr Cadwallader lay on the ground, the court heard everyone froze before Poulton began to panic and asked her cousin "don't tell the police" as Ms Byrne started screaming "What the f*** have you done?" Attempts were made to staunch the blood as an ambulance was called. The 999 call was said to have captured "the chaos" at the scene as people argued about how best to deal with the wounded man. The noise alerted neighbours and one who went to assist noticed a woman - Poulton - who was agitated and asking "What are we going to do?" It was then decided to drive Mr Cadwallader to hospital rather than wait for the emergency services.
He was no longer breathing on arrival and, despite the efforts of paramedics and then an air ambulance crew, he was pronounced dead shortly before 3am. Defence counsel, Mr Moses, told the court how Mr Cadwallader had a history of violent incidents, including punching family members and ex-partners. He also revealed he was investigated by police after killing a man with one punch in Maidstone town centre years ago .
The case was eventually dropped after it was ruled he had acted in self defence. The court also heard how Mr Cadwallader and Ms Byrne had a “stormy” relationship, which saw him ban her from having a phone or using social media. Despite this, Ms Byrne said the pair loved each other deeply and despite arguing regularly, would always make up.
The trial, which is expected to last up to four weeks, continues..
