A Bromley man is on trial accused of murdering a man outside a Croydon bowling alley in the early hours of Valentine’s Day, after what prosecutors say began as a night out with no trouble inside the venue at all.
Ellis Anim-Annor, 29, from Bromley, is accused of murdering Lorik Abazi and injuring others outside Tenpin Croydon Bowling Alley in the early hours of 15 February. He has denied murdering Mr Abazi and wounding a second man with intent.
Earlier that night, Anim-Annor and his girlfriend, Ines Bernado, had been celebrating Valentine’s Day at the bowling alley, where Mr Abazi, his partner and friends had also gone. Prosecutor Anthony Orchard KC told jurors there was no trouble inside the venue, and that both groups left at about 1am.
From there, the prosecution says, the defendant went to a nearby drive-through McDonald’s restaurant before returning to the area and confronting Mr Abazi’s party outside the bowling alley in the Valley Retail Park car park.
Mr Orchard told jurors: “The reason behind the confrontation is not entirely clear. There is some suggestion one of Lorik’s group had earlier remarked on Ms Bernado’s appearance. The confrontation escalated into a fight. The defendant had armed himself with a knife. During the fight he used it to stab Lorik Abazi in the heart. Two other members of Lorik Abazi’s group also suffered slash or stab injuries.”
Emergency services were called at 1.19am. Mr Abazi was treated at the scene before being taken to Croydon University Hospital, where he died at 2.01am. The other injured men were treated at the scene and taken to St George’s Hospital in Tooting.
How the night unfolded, as told to the jury
The prosecution’s account, as it was put to the jury, runs as follows. Both groups spent Valentine’s evening at the Tenpin bowling alley in Croydon, with no trouble reported inside. At about 1am, both groups left. The defendant went to a nearby drive-through McDonald’s, then came back to the area around the bowling alley, where he confronted Mr Abazi’s party in the Valley Retail Park car park.
What happened next, the prosecution alleges, was a fight in which the defendant, armed with a knife, stabbed Mr Abazi in the heart, while two other members of Mr Abazi’s group suffered slash or stab injuries. The emergency call came at 1.19am, and Mr Abazi died at Croydon University Hospital at 2.01am, less than an hour later.
It is important to be clear about the status of the case. Anim-Annor is on trial, and the account above is the prosecution’s case as presented to the jury — it is not a finding of guilt. He has denied the charges of murder and wounding with intent, and the trial will test the prosecution’s version of events. Nothing in this report should be read as suggesting the outcome of the trial, which is still to be decided.
The case continues. Further details from the trial will be reported as they emerge.
What a trial opening means
The opening of a trial is the point at which the prosecution sets out its case to the jury. In this case, that opening account covers the Valentine’s night visit to the bowling alley, the 1am departure, the trip to a nearby drive-through restaurant, and the confrontation said to have followed in the Valley Retail Park car park. The defence will have its opportunity to challenge that account and put its own case as the trial proceeds, and any verdict will come only after the jury has heard the evidence from both sides.
The events at the centre of the case date back more than eight months, to the early hours of 15 February. The trial now under way is the forum in which the disputed facts — including what happened in the car park after both groups left the bowling alley — will be tested. Until a verdict is reached, Anim-Annor remains an accused man who denies the charges, and the prosecution’s version stands as allegation, not as established fact.
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