A man accused of murdering a semi-professional footballer has claimed he is “not the killer” and only found out the victim had been stabbed when a co-defendant allegedly confessed in a pizza shop.
Remy Gordon, Kami Carpenter and Reegan Anderson are alleged to have killed Cody Fisher during a fight on the dancefloor at Birmingham’s Crane nightclub on Boxing Day 2022 in “awful revenge” for an incident two days earlier.
Gordon was the first defendant to take to the witness box at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday, in the fourth week of his trial.
The 23-year-old, who denies charges of murder and affray, told jurors he did not know Carpenter had brought a knife into the Crane and insisted he did not encourage others to assault Mr Fisher.
Answering questions from his KC Trevor Burke, Gordon said a confrontation occurred with Mr Fisher as he crossed the dancefloor to leave the club.
Gordon, of Cofton Park Drive, Birmingham, also said he had never encouraged Carpenter to carry a knife, and had not seen a weapon inside the club.
Telling jurors he had been punched and then kicked Mr Fisher while he was on the ground, Gordon said: “I think he was on the floor.
“At the time I thought he was knocked out.”
Denying that he had encouraged anyone to cause really serious harm to Mr Fisher or had wished to cause really serious harm himself, Gordon said ambulances had not arrived by the time he left the club and travelled to a pizza shop in the Northfield area.
Carpenter then arrived at the takeaway, wearing different clothes to those he had been wearing at the Crane, the court heard.
Gordon, who had read social media posts about the incident, told the jury: “I just asked him (Carpenter) about the rumours and he wasn’t really giving me straight answers.
“I asked him why he was in different clothes and then he just shrugged his shoulders.
“Then I asked him what had happened and then he kind of admitted to me what he had done. He said he stabbed him.”
Asked what he had then said to Carpenter, Gordon added that he had asked where the knife was now, and his friend said he had left it at the scene.
“I asked him ‘Who did you stab?’ and he said he didn’t know.”
Questioned about Snapchat messages in which he suggested that Carpenter should surrender himself “and own up to what he did”, Gordon said: “I just hoped that the investigation would have been done and that the truth would come out – that I am not the killer and he actually killed him.”
Earlier in his evidence, Gordon was questioned about online threats he made towards Mr Fisher, including a post saying he was due to “shank him up”, which he told jurors was “just a figure of speech” he did not mean literally.
Gordon also said he was not attempting to disguise himself when he wore a mask while entering the club, telling the jury panel: “It’s just fashion and it’s winter.”
Mr Fisher, a former Birmingham City academy member who also played for Stratford Town and Bromsgrove Sporting, died at the scene.
Jurors have heard the 23-year-old, from Redditch, was stabbed in the chest and thigh.
Carpenter, 22, and Anderson, 19, both of no fixed address, also deny murder and affray.
The trial has been adjourned until February 19.