A TEENAGER accused of murdering a fellow drug dealer acted in self-defence after he was stabbed moments before, it has been claimed in court.

Terence Maccabee and Olamide Soyege are on trial for the killing of London teenager Taylor Williams at a drugs den in Basingstoke on August 31, 2019.

Winchester Crown Court today heard how the dealers had come to meet Taylor at the flat in Kingfisher House, Shooters Way, to buy crack cocaine when the atmosphere turned sour.

The property was being used as a base for a county lines network known as Ray.

Soyege claimed Maccabee knifed Taylor in self-defence after the Bromley teenager set upon him, stabbing him in the abdomen.

Giving evidence today, 29-year-old Soyege said: "When I walked in, I saw three people. I recognised Taylor. He was getting the drugs out, he wasn't looking at me. He wasn't concentrating.

"They'd seen me before, when we walked in everything was fine but they looked at Terence Maccabee and asked him where he was from.

"They didn't like Terence.

"I started concentrating and the tone was changing for the worse.

"Taylor was standing up and had hold of Terence. Prince Orefo [one of Taylor's friends] pushed past me, I looked round and tried to get involved in Terence and Taylor. Terence Maccabee is facing the window, he looked like he was trying to get away but Taylor was pulling him back.

"Taylor was swinging into Terence's back. I saw something but I wasn't close enough to say it was a knife. By this point, he hit him three times, Terence fell onto the mattress.

"Terence was trying to get away. Taylor was in a swinging motion. I tried my best to get involved but didn't.

"Terence is on his knees and I tried to pull Prince off, and all the while avoid Taylor's advances.

"There was a knife on the table next to a knife sharpener. Black handled, silver bladed knife. Terence had picked up the knife from the table, he was trying to defend himself. He was trying to stop him. However many times he swang [sic] it, I don't know.

"Prince grabbed Taylor and said let's go.

Soyege, who is accused of murdering Taylor, claims he didn't come into contact with him and alleges 19-year-old Maccabee, from Southwark, was responsible for stabbing him.

Soyege continued: "I helped him [Maccabee] out of the window. There was quite a lot of blood. I knew that had to have been Taylor's. I saw his arm bleeding but I didn't know where else was bleeding.

"The knife was on the floor so I picked it up and put it in a blue cloth scarf type of thing. It was on the sofa, I left with it."

Soyege jumped out of the window and helped Terence stagger to Normanton Road where two acquaintances helped him into their home where they sat in the living room and called for an ambulance.

"I put him [Maccabee] on the sofa, he was in a bad condition. He was pale," he said.

Soyeye told the court he got out of his trainers and changed into sliders (slip-on shoes) and stayed for another five minutes before leaving. An ambulance later arrived to rush Maccabee to Southampton hospital, where he was later arrested.

Tana Adkin QC, defending Maccabee, said it was Soyege, rather than her client, who had stabbed Taylor and dismissed his account as "rubbish".

Cross-examining Soyege, she said: "I'm putting it to you that Taylor Williams jumps up from the chair, went towards Terence and started stabbing him.

"You say that whilst Terence is being stabbed, at one point he is on his knees and goes and gets the knife from the table.

"You know that’s rubbish. Terence Maccabee did not have a knife, did he?"

The prosecution claims that both Maccabee and Soyege are responsible for the death of Taylor Williams, and previously told the court that the pair, with Paige Taylor, planned to rob Williams and the Ray drugs network of crack cocaine and heroin.

Both Maccabee and Soyege are accused of murder, robbery and conspiracy to rob. Maccabee was today acquitted of possession of a knife in Shooters Way after the judge deemed that he had no case to answer. Meanwhile, Soyege still stands accused of that charge.

Maccabee is also accused of having a knife in Bermuda Park, Popley, earlier that evening.

Paige Taylor is not accused of murder, but does stand trial charged with robbery and conspiracy to rob.

The trio deny all charges. The trial continues.