A teenager cleared of involvement in a murder in November was responsible for knifing a different man exactly two weeks before his pal fatally stabbed Alex Innes.
Sending 19-year-old Keyarno Johnson-Allen inside for five years for the stabbing on the eve of Halloween last year, Judge Michael Gledhill KC blasted an ‘epidemic’ of young men carrying knives supposedly for their own protection.
“That’s why the use of knives, the carrying of knives, is just so appalling,” he said of the October stabbing, which took place by the St Aldates bus stop yards from where a 27-year-old man was slashed four weeks ago.
READ MORE: Oxford Mail newsletters: The latest stories in your inbox
The judge added: “It leads to the sort of thing that happened on this night.”
Johnson-Allen, then 18, had pulled out a knife after taking a tumble to the ground during a massed brawl in the taxi queue outside the St Aldates Tavern in the early hours of October 30 last year – a fortnight before the murder of Alex Innes in Jericho.
He stabbed his victim, Alan Zablocki, once in the back then cooly replaced the trainer that had come off his foot when he fell to the ground, Oxford Crown Court heard on Friday (September 29).
Together with his co-defendant, Taylor Thompson-Hughes, also 19, who left an imprint of the sole of his shoe on the victim’s forehead, Johnson-Allen got a cab at 4.52am – just five minutes after stabbing Mr Zablocki in the back.
The victim was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital, where he was rushed into surgery to stem the bleeding from his two-and-a-half centimetre-deep stab wound that cut his liver.
Sentencing, Judge Gledhill noted that Johnson-Allen had retrieved the knife from a bush after reportedly being chased by a group of ‘Asian men’ in an unrelated confrontation.
“Whatever happened that night – October 30, 2022 – in the centre of Oxford should not have ended in a stabbing,” he said.
“The injuries that you caused to Mr Zablocki were very serious; damaging his liver, cutting both an artery and a vein.
“It could quite easily have killed him. You’re very lucky indeed you weren’t facing a charge of attempted murder.”
He blasted a culture of knife carrying, telling the teen: “Mr Grainger [Johnson-Allen’s barrister] says the carrying and use of knives by young men such as you is of epidemic proportions and I couldn’t agree more.
“We read on a daily basis [of] young men just such as you, for reasons that don’t bear scrutiny, feeling that they ought to have a knife with them in order to defend themselves.”
Earlier, the court heard that the build-up to the stabbing began earlier that evening. At around 3am, Mr Zablocki was with his sister and her partner on Hythe Bridge Street when she went to the aid of a woman she thought was drunk or needed help.
It turned into an argument between Paulina Zablocka and a number of other women, before ‘some other males became involved’, prosecutor Frederick Hookway said.
The police broke up the dispute and the different groups went on their way.
Johnson-Allen was seen on CCTV at around 3.45am disappearing down a footpath by Castle Mill Stream and approach some bushes.
He was back five minutes later, when he appeared to find what he was looking for. It later emerged this was a knife, although the teenager claimed in a basis of plea that he was not the person who stashed the blade in the undergrowth and he’d fetched the knife after being involved in a dispute with some ‘Asian men’.
The Zablockis and the defendants’ groups came to blows again when Miss Zablocka got involved in an argument in the taxi rank at Carfax at around 4.45am with the same women involved in the disagreement 90 minutes earlier.
The argument quickly descended into a mass brawl involving around eight to 15 people, according to one of the security guards working on the taxi rank.
Miss Zablocka described herself being punched by various people. Her brother, Alan, tried to intervene to help his sister but was stabbed for his efforts.
His co-defendant, Thompson-Hughes, kicked Mr Zablocki in the head, punched Miss Zablocka and dealt a ‘fly kick’ to the stomach of the woman’s boyfriend.
Police officers recognised Thompson-Hughes from the CCTV and he was arrested at home four days after the brawl. His footwear was seized and proved to be a match for the mark on Mr Zablocki’s head.
Johnson-Allen, who walked away after stabbing his victim, handed himself in at the police station on November 7. He answered no comment when he was interviewed.
Less than a week later, in the early hours of November 13, he was outside the Love Jericho cocktail bar in Walton Street with pal Greg Muinami when the then 18-year-old stabbed Kidlington man Alex Innes once through the heart.
Together with Muinami and two others, Johnson-Allen was charged with Mr Innes’ murder. However, he was among the three acquitted on all counts in June. Only Muinami was convicted of the murder, and was handed a life sentence at the start of September.
Alistair Grainger, mitigating for Johnson-Allen, said his client had been victim of a knife attack himself.
He had sought to ‘try and discourage other youngsters’ from engaging in knife violence, the barrister said.
“He looks back with great regret at the stupidity of his actions,” Mr Grainger added.
The teenager had written a letter to the victim of the stabbing and in a separate note for the judge, which was summarised by his barrister, said he was ‘truly ashamed’ of himself.
Lyall Thompson, for Thompson-Hughes, said the teenager was remorseful. He was quoted in the probation service’s pre-sentence report as saying he was sorry to his victims and did not know what came over him.
The incident lasted a matter of seconds, he said. Mr Thompson told the judge his client had been trying to restrain women involved in the brawl but went towards Johnson-Allen when he saw his friend being pushed backwards.
He had stamped on Mr Zablocki’s head almost as soon as the man fell to the ground, then fended off another man with his foot before throwing a ‘blind’ punch when Miss Zablocka came from behind.
Mr Thomspon said his client was expecting his first child with his partner.
Johnson-Allen pleaded guilty to wounding with intent and possession of a bladed article. Co-defendant Thompson-Hughes admitted causing actual bodily harm and two counts of common assault.
Neither had previous convictions.
Judge Gledhill sentenced Johnson-Allen to five years’ detention in a young offenders’ institution.
He suspended Thompson-Hughes’ 12 month sentence for two years.
As part of the sentence, the teen must complete 150 hours of unpaid work and up to 46 rehabilitation activity requirement days, and was ordered to wear an alcohol abstinence tag for 120 days.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article