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Witness Cristina Dorut tells Kyle Yule murder trial of confrontation two months before teenager's death in Gillingham

A mother has told a murder trial of seeing a confrontation between a teenager and Kyle Yule two months before he was killed during a clash between two gangs.

Cristina Dorut was watching from her flat in Gillingham with other members of her family on August 10 last year when she saw the black youth with his hoodie up pull a large knife from behind his shoulder.

Ms Dorut said her six-year-old son described it as being like a Ninja warrior knife.

Kyle Yule was stabbed to death in Gillingham (1436402)
Kyle Yule was stabbed to death in Gillingham (1436402)

She saw a group of 20-30 teenagers arrive from the direction of the High Street at about 8pm and congregate in front of the railway station.

“They were shouting and fighting,” she told a jury at Maidstone Crown Court. “They were shouting at each other and pulling each other. I saw one boy get out a his knife from the back of his shoulders.

“It looked like a sword. It was a big knife, about 60 centimetres. All of us were watching. I was about 20 metres away. I have lived there for six years.

“I think the boy was African. When he pulled out the sword the group pulled back from him. He wanted to go to another boy. He walked towards him.

“He was white. He was quite tall and medium build. He was wearing a black T-shirt and shorts. On that day I didn’t know his name. I found it out later.”

Ms Dorut said she saw in the Kent Messenger in October that he had been killed. “It was his face,” she said. “I find out from the Kent Messenger his name, Kyle. I saw on Facebook about Kyle”

Kyle, who was 17, was fatally stabbed in East Street in Gillingham as he tried to flee to his home in nearby Hamilton Road on Friday, October 6 last year.

“They were shouting at each other and pulling each other. I saw one boy get out a his knife from the back of his shoulders.
“It looked like a sword. It was a big knife, about 60 centimetres. All of us were watching" - Cristana Dorut

He was knifed under his right armpit as violence broke out between gangs from Chatham and Gillingham.

Ms Dorut said another teenager was shouting during the incident she saw “Are you mad?” to the boy with the knife.

“He drove his bike at the boy who had the knife,” she said.

“They ran away. The girls in the group were shouting. I called the police when I saw the knife.”

Ms Dorut said she went out into the street before officers arrived about 30 minutes later. Kyle had left and then returned after about three minutes.

“He was with a lady,” she continued. “He looked shocked. He went to the High Street.”

Ms Dorut said an ambulance was there and paramedics looked at Kyle, as he was lying on the ground with his eyes closed.

She said on October 6 she again saw a group of black and white teenagers in the High Street.

There were three black boys who seemed to be hiding something.

They said to girls present: “You didn’t see nothing.” They went into an alleyway.

Kyle Yule was stabbed to death in Gillingham (1436404)
Kyle Yule was stabbed to death in Gillingham (1436404)

Chloe Goodwin, girlfriend of Kyle’s best friend Lewis Dilallo, told the jury about violent incidents she witnessed.

Giving evidence from behind screens, she said the two groups were known as C4 and G10, also called Opps, which meant “enemies, people they don’t like”.

She said she heard the name Vee (Maibvisira) when she got back into a relationship with Mr Dilallo in August last year. The two teenagers had been friends.

She described a violent incident outside the Southern Bell pub in Gillingham on September 13 involving a knife.

She was outside smoking with her boyfriend when Vee came along with another black boy and a white girl.

“Vee walked across the road to Lewis asking what he was looking at,” she said. “He replied something about Vee stabbing him. They came across to each other and had an argument.”

Miss Goodwin, 19, said she saw the other black boy put his hand into the girl’s handbag.

“I screamed at Lewis to walk away because I assumed he was going to pull something out of the bag,” she said. “He didn’t hear me. The boy pulled out a really big knife.

“Lewis’ friend grabbed it off him before he could do anything with it. I didn’t see Lewis to anything to Vee before the boy pulled out the knife.

“The four boys got into a fight. The knife was very big. It had big sharp teeth coming from it. It looked like a mini sword with a sharp edge.

“Vee’s lip was bleeding where Lewis’ friend punched him. The fight lasted a matter of minutes. It was very quick. Vee and friend and the girl ran off. We went back into the pub.”

Miss Goodwin said later that evening she and Lewis were in bed when there was a Snapchat conversation with Vee.

“I remember Lewis seeing a video of Vee and the other boy telling Lewis to get his coffin ready,” she continued. “It was ‘Game on, get your coffin ready’. There were threats exchanged back and forth between them.”

Victor Maibvisira, 19, of St John’s Road, Gillingham, three 17-year-olds and a 16-year-old, from Gillingham, Croydon, Sittingbourne and Stevenage, Hertfordshire, all deny murdering Kyle Yule. They also all deny violent disorder.

Maibvisira and one of the 17-year-olds have admitted threatening “another” with a machete in Gillingham Road, Gillingham, six days earlier on October 1.

The 17-year-old has denied affray, using unlawful violence, on that date.

The case continues.

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