This is the moment a dog walker is allegedly chased down by a gang, who dubbed themselves the ‘Three Musketeers’, minutes before he was stabbed to death in broad daylight.
CCTV footage shows Kieran Shepherd, 30, with his dog before being ambushed by Joseph Dawe, Zack O’Keeffe and Harrison Carpenter.
Mr Shepherd was brutally stabbed and left for dead on Meadgate Avenue, in Great Baddow in October 15, 2024, Chelmsford Crown Court heard.
During the opening of the trial, the jury was shown the distressing video of the chase beginning at 12.24pm that day.
Tracy Ayling KC, prosecuting, told the jury that Mr Shepherd had been stabbed twice – puncturing his lung and heart.
He was found six minutes later by cleaner, Holly Duffett, who was cleaning a block of flats near the attack. She later called 999.
She told the operator Mr Shepherd ‘wasn’t talking’ as she continued to reassure him that she was getting help. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 1.22pm.
Joseph Dawe, Zack O’Keeffe and Harrison Carpenter, all 20, have pleaded not guilty to murder.
This is the moment a dog walker is chased down by a gang, who dubbed themselves the ‘Three Musketeers’, minutes before he was stabbed to death in broad daylight
Kieran Shepherd (pictured) was brutally stabbed and left for dead on Meadgate Avenue, in Great Baddow in October 15, 2024, Chelmsford Crown Court heard
Yesterday, O’Keefe told the court he ‘panicked’ and ‘couldn’t believe what [he] had just done.’
‘If I didn’t defend myself, I felt like mine and my friends lives could have been at risk. I had no idea it was going to be fatal,’ he told the court, according to the BBC.
‘A month or two’ prior to the incident Mr O’Keeffe said he had dealt cocaine to the victim.
Around two weeks later, he and Carpenter met again with Mr Shepherd in an alleyway for another drug deal, where he claimed the 30-year-old ‘pulled out a knife’.
While being questioned by barrister Michael Borelli KC, O’Keeffe said Mr Shepherd told them they would ‘get it’. He claimed they both left as it was not ‘worth it’ for £70.
The 20-year-old said he, Dawe and Carpenter, were not searching for the victim when they crossed paths on October 15, alleging Mr Shepherd shouted that his dog bites.
In the chase, O’Keeffe claimed he fell behind and when he eventually caught up he saw Carpenter on the victim, but he could not see his other co-defendant, Dawe.
He told the court he saw a knife on the ground, which he claims belonged to Mr Shepherd.
CCTV footage of Mr Shepherd walking his dog in Great Baddow, Chelmsford on October 15, 2024
During the opening of the trial, the jury was shown the distressing video of the chase beginning at 12.24pm that day
Tracy Ayling KC, prosecuting, told the jury that Mr Shepherd had been stabbed twice – puncturing his lung and heart
‘He was reaching for [the knife]. He was going to use it on Joe, Harrison, or me, or all of us,’ he said.
O’Keeffe also said the victim’s dog was ‘being very aggressive’, and was ‘snarling and barking’. He believed the pet would bite him.
The 20-year-old said he swung the knife but ‘didn’t think’ he had made contact.
O’Keeffe went on to tell the court that he ran out of fear once he saw the blood, adding that he was too ‘scared’ to call police, but didn’t contact emergency services as he didn’t realise the seriousness of the injuries.
Mr Shepherd was stabbed in the back with a knife, which was as long as 30cm (12inch), prosecutors said.
Previously, Ms Ayling KC, prosecuting, said Mr Shepherd was ‘clearly caught by the three men’, before he was found dead with stab wounds to the back.
She said he was stabbed with such force that the wound was 13 to 15cm long, with the blade going through his left lung, ‘into his heart’ and ‘out the other side of it’.
The prosecution says while only one person stabbed Mr Shepherd, the jury should find them guilty of murder via joint enterprise.
‘One person may have delivered the fatal blows but the prosecution case is the three are jointly liable as they were acting together in a joint attack,’ she said.
Joseph Dawe, Zack O’Keeffe and Harrison Carpenter, all 20, have pleaded not guilty to murder
‘If I didn’t defend myself, I felt like mine and my friends lives could have been at risk. I had no idea it was going to be fatal,’ O’Keeffe told the court
‘You will hear the defendants called themselves the three musketeers.’
It was heard how cleaner Ms Duffett found Mr Shepherd after hearing shouting and three men run past her line of sight.
‘The man in the middle was putting a big knife, which she described as massive, into his trousers, Those men ran off,’ Ms Ayling KC said.
As she came out of the building, she saw Kieran Shepherd curled up lying on the floor. She was on the phone to her boyfriend but hung up and called 999.’
During the audio of the 999 call Ms Duffett was heard becoming more distressed she reassured the victim before ambulance crews arrived.
CCTV footage was shown of the trio at a newsagents shortly before the attack at 12.12pm, as well as doorbell footage at Harrison Carpenter’s grandma’s home in Stock at 1.10pm.
Carpenter’s girlfriend Olivia McElvaney, said she had been with the defendants on the day of the alleged murder, in a statement read by the prosecutor.
She explained they had been sitting on a bench when Carpenter received a call from the other two defendants.
‘She knew them all to be friends and called themselves ‘The Three Musketeers’. O’Keeffe was a drug dealer, and didn’t hide the fact,’ Ms Ayling said.
The 20-year-old said he, Dawe and Carpenter, were not searching for the victim when they crossed paths on October 15, alleging Mr Shepherd shouted that his dog bites
He was found six minutes later by cleaner, Holly Duffer, who was cleaning a block of flats near the attack. She later called 999
‘The plan was potentially to get some food. [At one point] O’Keeffe stopped the car as though he had seen somebody he knew.
She was told to stay in the car, while the three defendants left for what she believed to be around half an hour.
‘When they got back in Zack drove off immediately,’ Ms Ayling said. ‘She [Ms McElvaney] said Zack kept saying ‘shut up, shut up’.’
She believed there was blood on Carpenter’s jeans, and that she saw a knife pass from the front to the back of the car.
‘There was also talk between the defendants of the need to burn clothes,’ Ms Ayling said.
Ms Ayling said the men later went into woods located in Stock, before getting a lift to a caravan in Clacton on Sea.
Carpenter handed himself into a police station on October 16, while O’Keeffe and Daw ‘weren’t located’ until two days later.
Ms McElvaney had also attended the caravan with the three men, later giving a statement to police regarding what was said.
When asked by police if the men said they were there when Kieran got stabbed, and if they were responsible, she said ‘yes’.
‘She (Ms McElvaney) said Joe and Harrison had a fight with Kieran but Zack O’Keeffe stabbed him apparently twice in the back,’ Ms Ayling KC said.
According to the prosecutor, Ms McElvaney claimed O’Keeffe said it ‘had to be done’, according to the prosecutor.
‘The reason she said it had to be done, according to Olivia, was he (Mr Shepherd) had pulled a knife on a 14-year-old at some time in the past,’ Ms Ayling said.
‘Zack O’Keeffe said in stabbing Mr Shepherd he was doing the police’s job for them.’
The trial continues.
