Stevenage teenager was stabbed in act of 'cold-blooded murder', court told
A young man who stabbed a teenager through the heart with a zombie knife did so in an act of 'cold-blooded murder', a prosecutor told jurors yesterday. Kajetan Migdal, 18, was fatally stabbed in Cutty's Lane, Stevenage, at 23.20pm on May 27, 2022, following his school prom. Patrick Sharp-Meade, now 20, who lived on the same street in Stevenage, has admitted killing Mr Migdal but denies murder. Luton Crown Court heard the teenager and three friends had been confronted by Sharp-Meade, who came out of his home armed and wearing a balaclava. He mistakenly believed they had spoken to his ex-girlfriend as she passed them in the street and flew into a "jealous rage". The three friends managed to step away before Sharp-Meade plunged his knife 12 and half centimetres into Mr Migdal's chest, straight through his heart. Mr Migdal, a Year 13 pupil at Saint John Henry Newman Catholic School in Stevenage, died at 4.05am the following morning in the Lister Hospital, the court heard. Sharp-Meade was arrested by police the following morning and claimed to have no idea what it was about. 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". Four mental health experts were called upon to give their assessment of Sharp-Meade's autism and there was disagreement over the extent it affected his judgment. Sharp-Meade also has a diagnosis of ADHD and is suspected to have antisocial personality disorder. Prosecutor Jane Bickerstaff KC told jurors that Sharp-Meade had lied to police about "seeing zombies" and criticised his defence of diminished responsibility. Ms Bickerstaff said: "Why does he lie? This particular lie of hearing voices and seeing zombies? It was an attempt by him to use his diagnosis as an excuse, a reason for the killing. "It was a cold-blooded stabbing with some degree of premeditation, carried out in a jealous rage. "What the prosecution must prove is that this was an unlawful killing, not in self-defence. At the time of that unlawful killing, this defendent intended to kill or at the very least intended to cause really serious bodily harm to Kajetan. He took with him a knife that had no lawful purpose and was huge. "Kajetan was unarmed. Mr Sharp-Meade chose to use that knife by plunging it straight into his chest... 12 and a half centimetres in and out of the back of his heart. "It wouldn't be difficult in these circumstances to conclude that he intended to kill. But he certainly intended to cause really serious harm. "Such a large knife only has one purpose and anyone who chooses to use it against another unarmed individual knows they are going to cause catastrophic harm. Any other explanation is ridiculous. "This is as clear a case of murder as you will ever see and you should convict of murder. "The main focus of this trial has been about the defendent, his history, his medical conditions, his thinking, what may have caused him to act as he did. It may invoke some sympathy for you or all of you for him when doctors tell this court he was born this way. "On the other side a young man, Kajetan Migdal, is dead. Stabbed through the heart. It wasn't gang-related, he wasn't armed, he wasn't even rude to the defendent. "This was cold-blooded murder, premeditated, motivated by jealousy and perpetrated on the one boy who did not manage to run away from the defendent fast enough." Defending Sharp-Meade, Deanna Heer KC acknowledged to jurors that "a dreadful thing happened at Cutter's Lane on May 22, 2022". Ms Heer said it was the "background evidence" and "development of Patrick Sharp-Meade's brain" which was central to the case. She said: "At the time he committed that terrible act, at the time he killed Kajetan, Patrick Sharp-Meade was suffering from diminished responsibility, which gives him a partial defence to murder. "In the evidence, it's quite clear that at the time he killed Kajetan, Patrick Sharp-Meade was suffering from an abnormality of mental function. There's no dispute between the prosecution or defence about that. "His abnormality is the result of a combination of neurodevelopmental disorders. Not as a result of something he's done or the way he was brought up. "Something went wrong with the development of his brain and it went wrong at a very early age, when he was a baby or perhaps when he was born. "We say that his development disorders, however they are categorised, explain this killing. We say his actions that night make sense only as a result of these disorders. "On that night, the combination of the different neurodevelopmental disorders substantially impaired his ability to form a rational judgment and exercise rational control. "It's accepted that when he killed Kajetan, Patrick Sharp-Meade understood the nature of his conduct. On that night, he knew what he was doing, and he knew why he was doing it, and his actions were purposeful. "When he put on that balaclava, he knew it would conceal his face, and when he picked up that knife, he knew it was a weapon, and when he stabbed Kajetan Migdal, he knew what he was doing and he knew it was wrong. "That doesn't mean he can't rely on the partial defence of diminished responsibility." The jury are expected to be sent out to consider their verdict next week.
