Court

Pitsea Manslaughter Defendants 'Tried To Sell Vilson Meshi's Phone And Car Key' After His Body Was Found, Trial Hears
Weds 9th August 2017, Yellow Advertiser

TWO PEOPLE charged with killing a man by throwing a flare into his car tried to sell his phone and car keys to a local man after his death, a court had heard.

A witness made the claim at the manslaughter trial of Keani Hobbs, 18, of Stagden Cross, and a 16-year-old boy who cannot be named, each charged with causing the death of Vilson Meshi, 30.

Mr Meshi was found dead in his burnt out Audi A4 in Pincey Mead, Pitsea, on February 27, 2016.

Witness Ceejay Henry was staying intermittently with his girlfriend in Stagden Cross at the time, he testified at Chelmsford Crown Court today.

Sporting jeans, a blue jacket and a teardrop tattoo beneath his left eye, he said he felt ‘uncomfortable’ giving evidence and had been ‘dragged into’ the case by police.

He told presiding judge Patricia Lynch QC: "I didn’t even want to be involved in all this, to tell you the truth."

Led by prosecutor David Matthew, Mr Henry told jurors that Keani Hobbs and a boy he believed was her co-defendant had knocked on his door on the night after Mr Meshi’s body was discovered and offered to give him an Audi car key and an iPhone in exchange for £40 worth of cannabis - but he turned them down.

He told the court: "It was obviously Keani, another young lad and two other males that were with them. The two other males were taller than Keani and the other fellow. They could have been older. I’m not sure."

The shorter male was aged 14 to 16 and carried a Nike bag, he said.

A hooded on a bike, carrying a Nike bag, was captured by local CCTV cameras pulling handles on car doors in the area roughly half an hour before Mr Meshi’s car was set alight.

He was sleeping in the car, having driven from Glossop on the night of February 26, to look after his children on February 27.

Mr Henry told jurors the group told him ‘they were running away from somewhere or something’.

He said they seemed ‘desperate to get rid of’ the phone and key and admitted he was ‘very tempted’ by the offer.

But, he testified: "When I realised the deal was too good to be true, I didn’t want to have anything to do with it."

The trial has previously heard that Mr Meshi’s phone and car keys were missing when his body was found inside the torched car.

Mr Henry said he ‘bumped into’ Keani Hobbs’ mother Melanie the following day.

He told the court: "She just told me to keep my mouth shut... She didn’t say about what."

He said he only realised the possible significance of his interaction with Hobbs and the three males that same day, when he saw an Audi car underneath a police forensic tent in Pincey Mead.

He said: "I didn’t really connect it until the next day."

Defence barrister Charlie Sherrard QC, representing the 16-year-old boy, conceded that the boy who showed up at Mr Henry’s door with Keani Hobbs ’may’ have been his client.

But he said that in his police statement, Mr Henry had referred to Ms Hobbs as handling the phone and keys and doing all the talking.

Mr Henry disputed this, saying it was actually the shorter male who had been carrying the car key.

He said: "There’s four people come to my door. I only know one of their names. I’m not saying it’s Keani that’s come and done it all. She brought it to my door."

Mr Sherrard put it to Mr Henry that he in fact had purchased the keys and phone for ‘four joints’, but Melanie Hobbs had visited him the following day to retrieve them.

Mr Henry rejected the suggestion, saying: "She came to me and told me to keep my mouth shut. There was no bringing items or taking items."

In his opening statement last week, Mr Matthew told jurors that a secret police listening device, planted in the boy defendant’s father’s car, had captured voices discussing whether Mr Henry might have gone to the police. He read from the transcript.

One voice said: “Ceejay knew Keani by name. But it doesn’t matter, it’s their word against his.”

Another voice says: “Well, he’s a crackhead.”

A reply can then be heard: “Yea, he’s a crackhead.”

The trial continues.

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