Student stabbed man in heart over debt, trial hears

A student was fatally stabbed in the heart during an attack over a debt, a murder trial has heard.

Harper Dennis, 18, is appearing at Leicester Crown Court accused of killing De Montfort University (DMU) student Khaleed Oladipo on 3 February.

Oladipo, who knew University of Leicester student Dennis through online gaming, had been on the phone to his girlfriend when he was stabbed in the chest five times in Oxford Street, Leicester, prosecutor Jane Osborne KC told the court.

“They had previously been friends,” said Osborne. “But there had been a falling out, seemingly over money that, at the very least, Harper Dennis perceived was owed to him by Khaleed Oladipo.”

Dennis, a first-year student, had been friends with 20-year-old Londoner Oladipo, who was in his third year, after meeting in Leicester, and both had been part of a group chat, Clownshow, with two others, the court heard.

But after a falling out over money, both through direct messages and in the Clownshow chat, Osborne said Dennis decided to attack Oladipo over “a perceived debt”.

At about 17:00 GMT, Oladipo left his girlfriend’s flat carrying a plastic bag of leftover snacks and was on the phone to her while he walked back to his accommodation nearby to watch the football.

But outside the DMU Innovation Centre in Oxford Street, he was met by Dennis who CCTV had shown walking up and down in the “busy” area.

“It took less than 30 seconds for the two men to come together, to struggle and for the defendant to leave,” Osborne told the court.