A Basildon man twice confessed that he had committed an Essex stabbing, a murder trial has heard.
Zack O’Keeffe – described at Chelmsford Crown Court as a drug-dealer – confided in a friend who drove him to a Clacton holiday park hours after the incident, claimed prosecutor Tracy Ayling KC.
Mr O’Keeffe, 20, of Stafford Green, Langdon Hills, is on trial alongside two other men for the alleged murder of young dad Kieran Shepherd on October 15, 2024.
The trial heard the defendants, who allegedly called themselves “the three musketeers”, chased Mr Shepherd near Meadgate Avenue, Chelmsford, and stabbed him.
"On local CCTV, all three of them, wearing hoodies, can be seen chasing Kieran Shepherd," said Mrs Ayling.
"He was clearly caught by the three men and shortly afterwards he was found dead, stabbed in the back twice with a knife. The knife that entered his back was large.
"The blade went in through his left lung and into his heart, coming out the other side of it."
Mr Shepherd’s loved ones wept in the public gallery as footage of the chase was shown to the court, then audio was played of a 999 call from the woman who found Mr Shepherd.
Mr O’Keeffe has pleaded not guilty to his murder. He will claim self-defence, jurors were told.
So have two 20-year-olds from Chelmsford: Joseph Dawe, of Greenland Gardens in Great Baddow; and Harrison Carpenter, of Ben Wilson Link in Springfield.
But female friend Olivia McElvaney, who was caught on camera with the men in the immediate aftermath, gave a police interview implicating them, said Mrs Ayling.
She told officers she was with Mr Carpenter on October 15 when he got a phone call.
A short while later, a car pulled up. Driving it was Mr O'Keeffe, who she described as "a drug-dealer", and inside was Mr Dawe.
As they drove around, Mr O'Keeffe "suddenly stopped the car" after seeing someone he thought he recognised, Miss McElvaney told police.
"She was told to stay where she was," said Mrs Ayling. "The other three got out of the car. She thinks they were out of the car for about 30 minutes."
When they returned, Mr O'Keeffe immediately drove off and kept telling her to "shut up".
"In the car, she noticed several things," says Mrs Ayling, including "what she thought was blood on Mr Carpenter's jeans."
"Zack O'Keeffe was constantly on the phone and she saw him pass a knife, which she thought was in a sheath, from the front of the car to the back of the car, to Harrison Carpenter.
"There was also talk in the car between the defendants of the need to burn clothes."
They drove, Miss McElvaney said, to Mr Carpenter's grandmother's house in Dakyn Drive, Stock.
Doorbell footage showed they had changed their clothes, said Mrs Ayling, and they were then filmed going to the woods, where they remained for around an hour.
"You will want to ask yourselves why it is that all three defendants changed their clothes, why they spent so long in the woods and indeed, what exactly were they doing in the woods?" she told the jury.
Hours later, Mr O’Keeffe allegedly confessed his involvement to a friend, who he had asked to drive him, Mr Dawe and Mr Carpenter to Seawick Holiday Park in Clacton.
That friend, said Mrs Ayling, was called Tom Brett and will testify later in the trial.
"Mr O'Keeffe told Tom Brett what had happened that day. He, Mr Brett, said Zack told him that the three men chased someone and he, Mr O'Keeffe, stabbed the victim,” she said.
In the caravan that night, Miss McElvaney later told police, the trio admitted stabbing Mr Shepherd.
"She said Joe and Harrison had a fight with Kieran, but Zack O'Keeffe stabbed him, apparently twice in the back," said Mrs Ayling.
"Zack O'Keefe said it had to be done... The reason he said it had to be done, according to Olivia, was that Kieran Shepherd, the deceased, had pulled a knife on a young 14 or 15-year-old called Archie at some point in the past.
"Zack O'Keefe said that in stabbing Shepherd, he was doing the police's job for them."
The trial, at Chelmsford Crown Court, is expected to last four weeks.
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