Teen stabbed friend in heart after he 'thought he sexually assaulted his mum'

Trene Colecozy-Rogers was aged just 17 when he killed 26-year-old Dre Estridge during a memorial party at the victim's family home in Liverpool .

The defendant said the stabbing happened after he saw his distraught mum rush out of a bedroom with messy hair and "too much cleavage" showing, the Liverpool Echo reports.

He then claimed to have found Dre pulling up his shorts as he got off the bed, sparking an argument which resulted in the victim being killed .

Colecozy-Rogers arrived at the house in the early hours of the morning to collect his drunken mum Marita Colecozy and little sister.

Dre Estridge was discovered slumped on the floor "virtually unresponsive" with a "gaping stab wound"

But the 17-year-old argued with Dre in an upstairs bedroom before knifing him in the heart and leaving him to die.

The young killer hid vital evidence, including the 18cm long blade and his clothes, then went on the run to Sheffield.

Yet he claimed Dre had attacked him after he discovered that his friend had seemingly just sexually assaulted his mum.

He told a jury Dre reached for a knife, but he got it first, and when Dre lunged at him, he accidentally stabbed him.

Jurors found him guilty of murder by a majority of 11 to one after four hours of deliberation, following an eight-day trial.

Colecozy-Rogers, now 18, of Stevenson Street, Wavertree, showed no emotion when the verdicts were returned.

Members of Dre's Estridge's family cried in the public gallery while Colecozy-Rogers sat staring forward in the dock upon being told he will be jailed for life.

Dijuina Garrett held the party in Oakham Street on June 25 to remember her two-year-old son O'Shea, who died when he was hit by a motorbike rider in 1997.

The murder scene in Oakham Street, Dingle, Liverpool (Image: Liverpool Echo)

Liverpool Crown Court  heard she described it as a "lovely day", with Dre manning a barbecue, and a flock of doves being released.

However, Ms Garrett's close friend Ms Colecozy, 45, was described as "making a complete nuisance of herself" and being abusive to other guests.

Richard Pratt, QC, prosecuting, said she got involved in scuffles, then invited Nathan Cain, 19, who she hadn't met before, to dance.

He said: "When he declined her drunken invitation to dance, she attacked him by clawing at his face and neck and punching him."

Mr Pratt added: "She was staggering, falling about and injuring herself on the forehead in the process of falling.

"She was so out of control that it was decided to call her son, this defendant, to come and collect her."

Colecozy-Rogers arrived with his friend Rashan Hamilton in a taxi at 5.37am, but the driver refused to take Ms Colecozy, who was still "covered in blood".

Dre's sister Demmere took her upstairs for a shower to clean and sober up, while Colecozy-Rogers comforted his crying seven-year-old sister.

Demmere recalled Ms Colecozy came back downstairs, before she heard Dre and Colecozy-Rogers arguing in her brother Denzil's room.

She said Colecozy-Rodgers warned "I'll poke you" and Dre replied: "You do what you feel you need to do as a man - if you're gonna poke me, then poke me."

Colecozy-Rogers - who has two convictions for robberies at 15 - said he had got on with Dre, who was a good friend of his brother Darren.

The court heard Dre had convictions for assault and criminal damage against his mum and a sister, resulting in a restraining order that prevented him going to their home.

Colecozy-Rogers said Dre had spent a week staying at his home in Wavertree - with Ms Colecozy's permission - because he had nowhere else to stay.

But he said Dre, who was inhaling gas from a balloon, seemed drunk and angry and said he wasn't happy with the parents at the party, before he argued with Ms Garrett, who slammed the front door and told her son to "f*** off".

Colecozy-Rogers said he later heard his mum scream "like something was happening to her" so ran upstairs and saw her coming out of a bedroom in tears, with her hair and clothes messy like someone had pulled at them, "showing too much cleavage".

He said "she couldn't get her words out", so he told her to go downstairs, then went into the room to see what was going on.

Colecozy-Rogers claimed he saw Dre getting off a bed, pulling his shorts up, and when he asked "what's going on, why is my mum upset?" Dre replied "what do you think is going on?"

He said he asked "What do you mean? You're supposed to be my brother's mate" and Dre answered: "My mum is a s**g, all of our mums are s**gs, I'm not a**ed about you or your brother."

Colecozy-Rogers said: "It looked like he had some type of sex with my mum, which she didn't consent to."

He said Dre swung a punch at him, which missed, he swung a punch back, which "grazed" Dre and caused him to fall, then Dre went for a knife on a windowsill, which he feared would be used against him.

The teenager said he grabbed it first and told Dre "calm the f*** down", but he replied "if you're gonna stab me, stab me", then lunged at him.

Nina Grahame, QC, defending, asked: "Did you deliberately put the knife into his body?" "No," he replied.

Friends found Dre slumped on the floor, "virtually unresponsive", having suffered a "gaping stab wound", which caused "massive internal bleeding".

They attempted CPR, but neither his friends nor paramedics - who arrived within minutes - were able to save his life.

A pathologist said he suffered a 13cm deep chest wound, plus a cut on his right wrist and scrape to his left ring finger, which were possibly "defensive" injuries.

Colecozy-Rogers fled the house with Mr Hamilton, spoke to his mum on the phone, then jumped into a passing taxi.

He said he was panicking and when he spoke to Denzil, who rang and asked "what happened?", he replied "nothing".

Asked "have you just stabbed Dre?" he replied "what are you talking about?" before hanging up and switching off both of his mobile phones.

He told jurors he felt "bad", adding: "Because it was still in a way my fault that he had died. I felt like it was my fault that he had been stabbed."

Colecozy-Rogers washed the knife with bleach - leaving a tidemark on the blade - and hid it under a paving stone, in the alley behind his home.

He changed his clothes and ditched the ones he had worn earlier at his friend Tarik Shewkat's house in Allerton, where they were found by police.

Mr Pratt said: "In the same period that desperate efforts were being made to save Dre, this defendant had the presence of mind to take the knife away from the scene and take it home where he would clean it, and dump it, change his clothes and shoes at home, and then take his discarded clothing to another friend’s house."

Colecozy-Rogers - who freely admitted to concealing and disposing of evidence - said he paid a man £150 to get him out of Liverpool, but returned when his older brother Marley rang to say Dre had died, which made him feel "very bad".

He didn't hand himself into police until 9.15pm on June 29, then remained silent during an interview, before later suggesting his actions were entirely in self-defence.

Judge Denis Watson, QC, said Colecozy-Rogers will be sentenced on Friday and remanded him in custody.

The teenager gestured to his dad sitting in the public gallery to phone him as he was sent down.

Mirror