A drug dealer accused of murdering Ipswich teenager Tavis Spencer-Aitkens has denied carrying a knife to defend himself in case he was robbed.

In his third day in the witness box at Ipswich Crown Court, Adebayo Amusa said he had been involved in the supply of drugs since he was 13 or 14.

He said when he was selling drugs he would have 30 to 40 shots each of heroin and crack cocaine worth about £700.

Amusa, 20, told the court that selling drugs was a dangerous business, with dealers running the risk of being arrested or robbed by customers or other dealers.

Asked by prosecuting counsel Sarah Przybylska: “How do you protect yourself from being robbed?” He replied: “To be honest I don’t think about it. If it happens, it happens.”

Asked: “Do you feel confident you won’t be robbed because you would be able to defend yourself?” Amusa replied: “I don’t carry a knife.”

In the dock with Amusa, of Sovereign Road, Barking, are Aristote Yenge, 23, of Spring Road, Ipswich, Callum Plaats, 23, of Ipswich, Isaac Calver, 19, of Firmin Close, Ipswich, Leon Glasgow, 42, of no fixed address and a 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named because of his age. They all deny murdering 17-year-old Tavis in Packard Avenue.

During his evidence Amusa has denied being in a delivery van driven by Glasgow that allegedly drove the people who killed Tavis to Packard Avenue in Ipswich on June 2 last year.

He claimed that after seeing the delivery van set off from Alderman Park he stayed in the area dealing drugs and had then gone to the skate park and the town centre.

Amusa said he had paid Glasgow the equivalent of £45 in drugs and cash to drive a man called “M”, Yenge and the 16-year-old boy to Iris Close.

He denied a suggestion by Miss Przyblyska that what he said was “nonsense” and that he had paid Glasgow to take him, Yenge, Calver and the 16-year-old boy to Iris Close and then to Nacton where the attack on Tavis took place.

Amusa said he didn’t know about the rivalry between the J-Block gang from the Jubilee Park area of Ipswich and the Neno gang from the Nacton area of the town.

It has been alleged the attack on Tavis was the result of rivalry between the two gangs for what J-Block perceived to be a loss of respect following a row between the 16-year-old defendant and Yenge and two of Tavis’s friends during a confrontation in Ipswich town centre.

The trial continues.