Prom night stabbing motivated by jealousy - trial
Kajetan Migdal was stabbed in the heart after attending his prom in Stevenage
- Published
A teenager was stabbed by a stranger in an "unprovoked" attack motivated by "irrational jealousy", a trial was told.
Kajetan Migdal, 18, was fatally injured on Cutty's Lane, Stevenage, at 23:20 BST on 27 May 2022, the night of his school prom.
Luton Crown Court heard the teenager and three friends had been confronted by a man in a balaclava, who mistakenly believed they had spoken to his ex-girlfriend.
Patrick Sharp-Meade, now 20, of Cutty's Lane, Stevenage, has admitted possession of a bladed article but denies murder.
Mr Migdal, a Year 13 pupil at Saint John Henry Newman Catholic School in Stevenage, died at 04:05 the following morning in the Lister Hospital, the court heard.
At the start of the trial, Judge John Hillen told the jury of six men and six women that Mr Sharp-Meade "accepts he stabbed and killed Kajetan".
“The issue is whether he is guilty of murder or manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility,” he said.
The teenager was stabbed on 27 May 2022 at 23:20
Opening the case, prosecutor Jane Bickerstaff KC said the group had attended their school prom at the Holiday Inn in Stevenage.
They returned to Mr Migdal's grey Skoda car - parked on Mr Sharp-Meade's street - where they intended to change before heading to an after-party in Cambridge.
“They never made it to Cambridge," Ms Bickerstaff said.
"They were approached by the defendant who was armed with a large zombie-style knife. He had it concealed down his tracksuit trousers.
“He verbally challenged Kajetan and his friends in the pretence that they had been following or speaking to his ex-girlfriend as she walked past the group."
Ms Bickerstaff told the court the friends had backed away but Mr Migdal had not finished changing and "momentarily stood his ground".
The defendant approached and stabbed him in the chest, the jury heard.
“It was a wholly unprovoked attack in a residential street in Stevenage," the prosecutor said.
"This defendant and Kajetan Migdal were both 18 and complete strangers."
Kajetan Migdal was with a group of friends when they were approached by the defendant
The jury was told the defendant’s ex-girlfriend was heading to Mr Sharp-Meade’s flat to collect a fur hood and had been talking to a friend on her mobile phone as she walked past the group of students.
The defendant heard the conversation and could hear the four teenagers in the background.
The prosecutor said: “As a result of hearing them in the background, he became irrationally jealous.
“The defendant armed himself with a knife. He put on a balaclava and speed-walked to find and confront those who he wrongly thought had engaged with her.”
She said the defendant had been "enraged by something that had not happened".
Mr Sharp-Meade was arrested after leaving his flat, where, the court heard, he had concealed the knife involved.
'Impulsive, aggressive and violent'
Mr Sharpe Meade denies murder but has admitted killing Kajetan Migdal.
Deanna Heer KC, defending, said Mr Sharpe-Meade was not a normal defendant.
“There’s no dispute that Patrick killed Kajetan," she told the court.
"There’s no dispute that he did so unlawfully.”
But she said he “was suffering from an abnormality of mental functioning which arose from a recognised medical condition recognised by qualified psychiatrists".
The jury heard that he suffered with neurodevelopmental disorders, and "because his brain developed abnormally, so his behaviour became abnormal”.
She told the jury Mr Sharpe-Meade’s medical records displayed highly disturbing behaviour, even as a baby, and said he was “impulsive, aggressive and violent for no obvious reason”.
Ms Heer told the jury: "We don’t ask you to acquit Patrick Sharpe-Meade. We suggest the proper verdict is guilty of manslaughter.”
The trial continues.
Follow East of England news on Facebook, external, Instagram, external and X, external. Got a story? Email [email protected], external or WhatsApp us on 0800 169 1830