High Wycombe drug dealer stabbed man in Holtspur, court hears

Jerome Dublin, 25, of Carrington Road, is accused of stabbing Amos Bacchus in North Drive, Holtspur, at around 11.45pm on May 20, 2020.

On Wednesday, Amersham Law Courts heard how Dublin stabbed Mr Bacchus three times in a drug deal gone wrong, and how the victim chased after him and smashed the window of Dublin’s getaway car with a brick as he was fleeing the scene.

Dublin has pleaded not guilty to counts of wounding and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and claims that the victim and police have mistaken him for the real knifeman.

Police on the scene of the stabbing the day after the incident

When Mr Bacchus took to the witness stand, he told the jury that he knew Dublin as “AJ” and that he had known him for around two years as a “local drug dealer.”

The court heard from Mr Bacchus that two weeks before the incident, he had bought a gram of cocaine from Dublin for £100, but when he weighed it himself, he found had not been given the full amount.

Mr Bacchus told the jury that he made a deal with Dublin that he would give him back what he owed and Mr Bacchus would also buy another £40-worth of cocaine from him.

The court heard how the pair met outside Mr Bacchus’s house in North Drive at around 11.45pm on May 20, and that things quickly turned violent.

Taking to the witness stand, Mr Bacchus said: “I said to him ‘give me what you owe and I’ll buy the rest off you’ and he got quite agitated and angry and said ‘have you got the money?’”

“I shouted and said ‘you not going to give me nothing?’ And he turned around and started walking towards me, but I couldn’t see that he had a knife.

“He put his hand in his pocket, then he got his hand out of his pocket and hit me in the lower back. The second time he hit me under my arm because I was trying to get hold of him.

“And he hit me in the shoulder, near my neck.”

Forensic investigators were on the scene for several hours

Mr Bacchus told the court that it was only later on that he realised he had been stabbed, and after the attack he chased his assailant.

He said: “I ran after him. There are some bricks by the side of the house, and when he jumped in the passenger side, I threw a brick at the window and the window smashed and they drove off.

“After that I realised I was soaking wet and realised I had been stabbed and started feeling the pain.”

Mr Bacchus told the court that he saw a woman driving the car, but did not recognise her. After the car left, he sat down on the kerb nearby and called an ambulance. Mr Bacchus recovered from his injuries after a stay in hospital

When Mr Dublin took to the stand to give evidence on this morning (Thursday), he told the court that he was known to his friends and family as Jerome and that he had never been called AJ.

He also told the court that the knew Mr Bacchus as “the father of two boys I grew up with” but that the pair did not know each other and had never spoken on the phone or in person.

The jury also heard from the prosecutor Mr Wright that Dublin had previously been convicted for knife possession when police discovered a lock knife in his car in May 2019. He was given a community order for the offence.

When he was asked what he was doing on May 20, he said: “I was at home playing PlayStation, watching movies and YouTube.

“If I did see anyone it would have been my close friends maybe but I’m not 100 per cent sure.”

He went on to deny that he had been in North Drive on that day and told the court that he handed himself in on May 26 when he heard from his mother that the police were looking for him.

Jerome Dublin has pleaded not guilty to charges of wounding and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm

The trial continues.