Partner learned of fake Rolex row before murder - court

The girlfriend of a student fatally stabbed in Leicester said she believed her partner had owed his killer "thousands" over a fake Rolex, a murder trial has heard.

Prosecutors say University of Leicester student Harper Dennis, 18, fell out with Khaleed Oladipo, 20, over money before plunging a knife 13cm deep into him near De Montfort University (DMU) in February this year.

Their friendship had soured in the wake of an unsuccessful attempt by Dennis, who denies murder, to sell a fake Rolex given to him by Oladipo, the trial at Leicester Crown Court previously heard.

In her evidence on Thursday, Oladipo's partner Shekeziah Fowler-Palmer said: "I knew it was fake."

Fowler-Palmer said she "didn't know" Dennis and everything she knew about him was through Oladipo.

She told Judge Timothy Spencer KC that Oladipo would downplay his troubles and she was initially unaware that he potentially owed Dennis money.

The court heard that Fowler-Palmer did not know Oladipo had also not paid for his student accommodation, and was in debt with his mobile phone contract.

Fowler-Palmer said she knew that her boyfriend had purchased a Rolex online, which he did not have the paperwork for, jurors heard.

She knew that Oladipo, a student at DMU, had attempted to sell the bogus watch and not been successful.

But after two calls from Dennis on Christmas Day, one lasting one minute and eight seconds and the second lasting one minute and 17 seconds, she learned that Dennis believed Oladipo owed him "thousands" over the Rolex.

The couple argued over messaging about the calls and the debt. She said: "It wasn't until the call that I had suspicions.

"I asked him but he denied it. He put me off.

"I was unaware of everything that was going on. I wasn't getting much detail, which I found suspicious."

Fowler-Palmer told the court she was aware that in the weeks leading up to the stabbing, Oladipo was trying to "ghost" Dennis and avoid him.

Pathologist Dr Michael Biggs also gave evidence to the trial, explaining the medical cause of Oladipo's death was a 13cm deep stab wound, which passed through the cartilage of a rib and punctured his heart's right ventricle.

He said: "It penetrated the front of the heart."

His post-mortem examination showed Oladipo had suffered six wounds, five to the chest including the fatal one, and a defensive wound to his thumb webbing.

Dennis, of Bath Lane, Leicester, denies murder, possession of a bladed article, and failing to comply with a Section 49 notice to disclose the code for his phone.

The trial continues.

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