A trial has been shown CCTV and mobile phone footage of a teenager being chased down a street in Glasgow with a weapon just days before he was allegedly murdered.
Amen Teklay, 15, was found seriously injured on Clarendon Street in Maryhill on the evening of March 5 last year and died at the scene. Two teenagers aged 16 and 17 have gone on trial accused of murdering him in a sword attack in Glasgow.
The trial began at the High Court in Glasgow on Thursday, and jurors were shown CCTV and mobile phone footage from the period leading up to Amen's death.
Footage filmed on a phone on February 12, 2025, nearly a month before Amen was killed, showed him being assaulted by a group of three boys on Great Western Road. Prosecutor Adrian Stalker described the altercation as 'three against one'.
The jury was also shown footage from March 2, 2025, three days before Amen's death. At approximately 8.45pm, a group of three young males, apparently including one of the accused, was seen on CCTV outside the Lismore pub in Partick.
Detective Sergeant Jennifer Piggot, the first witness in the case, told the court that Amen could be seen approaching the group before a stand-off took place. Mr Stalker said: 'It looks like there's been some kind of confrontation.' He added that the group of three could be seen 'circling Teklay around the bus stop' by the pub. 'It appears both [the accused and Amen] have weapons at some point.'
Ms Piggot confirmed to the jury that it looked like both teenagers possessed 'large knives or machetes'. One of the accused teenagers could then be seen on mobile phone footage apparently chasing Amen down the street. The video ends with an image of the accused holding a large knife that Mr Stalker said 'widens then tapers on the end'.
The murder charge alleges that the two teenage boys, with their faces masked, assaulted Amen and brandished a frying pan and a sword or similar instrument at him on Glenfarg Street and Clarendon Street on March 5 last year. It is alleged that the pair, who cannot be named due to their age, chased Amen and struck him on the body with the sword, leaving him so severely injured that he died.
The two boys deny the charge, and the 16-year-old has lodged a special defence of self-defence. The 16-year-old is also charged with attempting to defeat the ends of justice on March 5, 2025, by hiding a blood-stained top and disposing of a sword or similar instrument, by means unknown to the prosecutor.
It is also alleged that the 16-year-old, while acting with another person, behaved in a threatening or abusive manner on March 2 last year by brandishing a sword and metal barrier or similar instruments at Amen and chasing him. The 16-year-old is additionally charged with unlawful possession of a blade, namely a sword or similar instrument, at a number of locations in Glasgow between March 2 and 5, 2025.
It is further alleged that, while acting with two other people, he assaulted Amen on February 12 last year on Great Western Road, Glasgow. The two teenagers have both pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Jurors were sworn in on Thursday at the trial, which is taking place before Lord Colbeck at the High Court in Glasgow. Addressing the jurors, he told them: 'You must reach your verdicts based on the evidence.'
