A young mother was fatally stabbed with a “zombie knife” in front of her three-year-old daughter on the family day of Notting Hill Carnival, a court heard.
Cher Maximen, 32, had been celebrating the annual carnival with her friends and their children on Sunday 25 August last year.
Shakeil Thibou, 20, is accused of stabbing Ms Maximen in the groin after she was knocked to the ground while he was in an altercation with another man. He denies her murder.
At the opening of the trial on Tuesday, prosecutor Ed Brown KC told the court Ms Maximen and the group she was with had got caught up in the middle of a “horrifying outbreak of violence” at 5:48pm.
A crowd of hundreds splintered on Golborne Road in west London as Thibou and his two brothers, who are on trial alongside him facing separate charges, had an altercation with at least two other males.
Thibou produced a “huge” knife, described by one witness as a zombie knife, and lunged repeatedly at a man called Adjei Isaac in a “determined, thrusting movement”, the Old Bailey heard.
Mr Isaac recoiled and during the altercation the pair bumped into Ms Maximen who had been crouched chatting to her friends as they sat on the ground with their children.
The knife, the prosecutor said, missed Mr Isaac by “centimetres”.
Thibou denies the attempted murder of Mr Isaac.
Mr Brown KC told the court Ms Maximen struggled to regain her footing after being knocked to the ground.
He said: “Cher Maximen in those moments grabbed hold of Shakeil Thibou’s coat, pulled it and managed to get partially to her feet.
“She appeared to attempt to strike out with her hand at Shakeil who of course was still holding that knife in his hand. Cher Maximen took a step towards Shakeil Thibou and at the same time attempted to raise her right leg out towards him.
“It was at this moment, Shakeil Thibou raised the knife directly towards Cher Maximen and deliberately thrust it towards her, stabbing her in the groin.”
His brothers, Sheldon Thibou, 25, and Shaeim Thibou, 22, both deny assaulting a police officer and violent disorder.
‘Pure anger’ in accused face
As jurors were shown police bodycam footage of the incident, Mr Brown KC told them: “You will see pure anger in the face of Shakeil Thibou. This was right in front of her [Ms Maximen’s] three-year-old daughter.”
The “truly shocking” incident happened in just eight seconds.
Ms Maximen fell to the ground as the defendants ran away. The knife wound was 12cm deep and had caused severe internal bleeding in her groin.
She died six days later in hospital.
After the fatal incident, Thibou allegedly disposed of the knife.
Hundreds had been attending the “happy carefree event” when the attack happened just off the main carnival route.
The trial continues.
