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'Girl spat on boy stabbed in Folkestone after McDonald's clash,' jurors hear

15:05, 15 March 2023

updated: 11:41, 20 March 2023

A teenage girl “spat on and mocked” a boy after he was repeatedly stabbed in a car park.

Two boys received life-threatening stab wounds in Folkestone on May 17 last year.

The Middelburg Square car park in Folkestone
The Middelburg Square car park in Folkestone

Charlie Lee, 18, of Birchington, and three teenagers from Ramsgate, deny attempted murder.

A jury at Canterbury Crown Court today heard the violence erupted in the town centre during a clash arranged on Instagram.

After meeting at the town’s bus station they entered Saga’s multi-storey car park in Middleburg Square.

Lee and a 15-year-old co-defendant are said to have armed themselves with blades, then stabbed two other teenage boys a total of five times before fleeing.

A 16-year-old boy from Ramsgate repeatedly kicked one of the victims in the head, the court heard.

A girl, 16, who lives in the same town, “stayed behind to taunt him and spit at him as he lay there after being stabbed four times”, Patrick Dennis, prosecuting said.

The victim, who was not involved in arranging the confrontation or the previous clash in McDonald's, suffered wounds to his stomach, arm, chest and back.

The prosecution said he had been an "easy target" after falling over his bike at the scene.

The other victim was also stabbed in the chest.

“By stabbing two people five times, and where they stabbed these two people, they could only have been intending to kill them,” Mr Dennis said.

“[It is] sadly a depressing case involving serious youth violence involving a double stabbing,” Mr Dennis said, opening the prosecution’s case on Wednesday.

The McDonald's in West Terrace, Folkestone. Picture: Wayne McCabe
The McDonald's in West Terrace, Folkestone. Picture: Wayne McCabe

The court heard both groups clashed in McDonald’s, West Terrace, Folkestone, days before the attack.

After a row, the defendants are said to have chased one victim - now aged 16 - and his friends with a knife.

In the following days, the youths argued over Instagram, and organised a pre-arranged fight for the evening of May 17 on a group called ‘Man Dem’.

Jurors were told CCTV showed both groups entering the car park, with the defendants running away about a minute later.

A bus driver discovered the victims, who come from the Folkestone area, soaked in blood and alerted 999.

An area near the Co-op in Folkestone guarded by a PCSO further away from the stabbings
An area near the Co-op in Folkestone guarded by a PCSO further away from the stabbings

They were rushed to London’s King’s College Hospital after suffering life-changing injuries.

Meanwhile, police traced the 15 and 16-year-old boys to a nearby Co-op store, where one tried hiding a blade.

The other tried hiding in the storeroom.

Days later, Lee and the 16-year-old girl were arrested. Her phone contained a text allegedly “bragging about the stabbing”, the court heard.

After the 15-year-old boy was remanded in custody, he posted a derisive remark on Instagram, reading: “xxxx Folkestone manz, xxxx all the opposition, xxxx the police, I’m going to be free soon.”

Lee, of Devons Gardens, and the 15-year-old pleaded guilty before trial to possession of a bladed article in a public place.

Most defendants are expected to argue they were acting in self-defence after being outnumbered.

The girl will argue during the five-week trial she did not provoke the knife attack or mock and spit at the victim.

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