Teen ‘stabbed housemate, 19, in the heart after luring him into basement with dead mouse ruse to steal money for taxi’

A TEEN who allegedly stabbed his flatmate to death “lured” him into the basement pretending there was a dead mouse in the toilet, a court heard.

Musa Salih, 19, has been accused of stabbing Harley Purdue repeatedly at their short-term let in Thorold Road, Chatham, on December 2.

Harley, also 19, sustained seven wounds, including a fatal blow to his lung and heart.

Prosecutor Richard Christie KC told Maidstone Crown Court that Salih had instigated the attack to steal money so he could visit his pregnant girlfriend in London.

The court heard how Salih, who had moved into the property just a week beforehand, “lured” Harley into the basement to allegedly commit the heinous assault.

At around 2.40am, Salih allegedly knocked on the attic room door, where Harley was sleeping with his pregnant girlfriend, Hazel Gasden.

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She told the court that she rushed downstairs to find “lots of blood” on the floor and found her boyfriend in a toilet, who said he was losing consciousness.

Hazel, who was three months pregnant, said she scrambled to the kitchen to grab a butcher’s knife to defend herself and Harley.

During this time, Hazel said Salih ran up to the attic room to take Harley’s money.

After going back upstairs, she allegedly caught Salih dragging a “weak” Harley towards the door while holding a knife against his throat.

Hazel kicked him in the head causing him to “fly into the door” and Salih allegedly “tried stabbing her multiple times”, nicking her chin, the court heard.

He then “stumbled” out of the property and fled before returning shortly afterwards to collect his phone and a bag stuffed with around £300 of the stolen cash.

One witness claimed they heard Harley shouting: “Just give it back to me.

“Just give me my stuff and go.”

A knife covered in Harley’s blood was discarded in the alleyway and discovered by cops, who arrived within minutes to carry out a search.

By then, Salih had reportedly reached Bank Street, where he hid in an empty property.

Records show he tried booking two taxis at 2.38am and 2.41am, which were both cancelled, before eventually booking a third at around 2.44am, to take him to Wembley.

The taxi driver reported that Salih’s clothes had been covered in blood and that he had offered to pay the £119.30 fare with blood-stained cash.

At around 11pm, Salih allegedly asked his girlfriend to send over money to pay for a taxi.

She agreed to send £50 but he demanded more, the court heard.

At around 3.24am, Salih received several more messages from his partner.

“You need to go to the hospital if he stabbed you,” she said.

Another message said: “You promised me. I told you to leave there. What am I going to do? I’m going to lose you and my baby.”

At 4.55am, she said: “I just wish that you could have stayed there and that you could have proved it was self-defence.”

Salih is alleged to have changed his outfit at a friend’s home in London before heading to his mum’s house, where he was arrested on December 2.

Further analysis of Salih’s phone revealed he had consulted ChatGPT about legal advice and a serious incident in Chatham.

He asked whether people could be put on remand for self-defence, what the sentence for manslaughter was, and whether the person involved in a stabbing in Chatham was still alive.

He also asked whether someone with a Portuguese passport could get to Ethiopia.

Salih gave multiple accounts of the attack in the hours after the killing, claiming he had fought back after Harley “flipped” and was being “abusive”.

However, the prosecutor said Salih gave no comment during the police interview.

In an interview recorded in the aftermath, and played to the court, Hazel said she had a “gut-wrenching” feeling something wasn’t right downstairs.

As she went down to the basement, Hazel said Harley told her not to go any further as Salih was “hiding behind the fridge and going to stab her”.

She said: “I wasn’t just going to watch my boyfriend be stabbed, so my reaction was to stab the boy back.”