Ipswich teen accused of brandishing machete tells court it was a plastic toy

Giving evidence during his trial at Ipswich Crown Court, Daniel Das Neves said he and a friend had been fixing the chain on his bike with a friend outside a house in the town’s Cecil Road when they saw a man arrive on a bike.

The man was wearing a balaclava and after getting off his bike he had pulled out a machete from his trousers.

Das Neves said he had looked for somewhere to hide before picking up a black plastic toy knife that he found behind a bin where he was standing.

“I grabbed it to intimidate him so he would go away,” said Das Neves.

“It was quite large and I tried to scare him with it,” he added.

He said there was a car on the driveway and he and his friend the man with the machete had “circled “ it for about five minutes before he and his friend had decided to make a run for it.

They ran to an alleyway leading to Geneva Road and while they were in it Das Neves had hidden the toy knife in his trousers.

“I didn’t want anyone to be worried about what was happening. It would look suspicious if they saw me running with the black machete looking toy,” he said.

When they reached Barrack Lane the man who was chasing them had got off his bike and started coming towards Das Neves.

“I took out the toy again to intimidate him and he said: ‘Alright I’ll go for him then’ referring to my friend,” said Das Neves.

He had then seen the man strike his friend and it was only when they were hiding in the garden of some nearby flats shortly afterwards that he realised his friend was bleeding from a stab wound.

Das Neves, 19, of Risby Close, Ipswich, has denied affray and having an article with a blade on January 31.

Matthew Bagnall, prosecuting, has alleged that Das Neves was seen brandishing a machete in Cecil Road and Barrack Lane.

He said the issue in the case was likely to be whether the machete was real or a “plastic look alike machete”.

The jury is expected to retire to consider its verdict on Wednesday ( June 29).