A SOUTHPORT man has been found not guilty of homicide following the fatal stabbing of Ben Nesbitt, 22, who was found bleeding to death in a Quesada street on October 1, 2020.
The young labourer- also from the Southport area- had suffered neck wounds.
An Elche court cleared Wai Ming Lam, 40, last Friday with Ming Lam pleading his innocence at the start of the hearing.
He pinned the blame on the British owner of the Quesada property where the incident happened.
The owner told last week’s trial that he heard an argument downstairs and came down to see Ming Lam clutching a knife.
Ming Lam was arrested as he tried to flee Spain in his car close to the border with France at Girona.
Prosecutors wanted him jailed for 16 years for homicide and theft, as it was claimed he stole a bag from the house that he was visiting in Quesada.
They also demanded €100,000 in compensation be paid to Ben Nesbitt’s mother and €688 to the owner of the stolen bag.
Wai Ming Lam told the court that he knew Ben Nesbitt from when he was a 10-year-old boy after a visit to his family home in Southport.
At the time of the fateful events, he had been staying with him at his Villamartin property on the Orihuela Costa for several weeks.
Ming Lam testified that Ben ‘had problems in England and since he didn’t want to go to prison, he asked me if he could come to stay with me, and I said yes’.
Prosecutors said that Wai Ming and Ben went to a Quesada gaming saloon on September 30, 2020, before moving onto a home in the area owned by a British couple who they met in the gambling room.
They claimed an argument started in the early hours of October 1, 2020 which resulted in Ming Lam knifing Ben with the victim staggering outside into the road.
Wai Ming Lam said they bought some cocaine and after meeting the British couple at the Quesada gaming room, they went to the couple’s home to consume more narcotics that were already there.
The hours passed by and at around 2.30 am on October 1, Ming Lam said they purchased ‘two grams of cocaine for 100 pounds’ from the home owner, and when that ran out, they offered him some marijuana in exchange for the cocaine.
According to Ming Lam’s evidence, Ben Nesbitt allegedly got angry with the owner in the kitchen when he got out a large knife to cut a large piece of hashish and with both men drunk, Ben punched him three times.
The property owner then fatally stabbed Ben, claimed Ming Lam.
In long testimony, the British home owner denied being assaulted by Ben and said he did not see Ming Lam stabbing him, because he had gone upstairs to wake up his partner.
He added that Ming Lam and Ben had ‘invited themselves’ there.
The owner said he returned downstairs having heard a scuffle and saw Ming Lam clutching a knife before running away.
The presiding Elche judge freed Wai Ming Lam following the not guilty verdict, leaving the identity of Ben Nesbitt’s killer a mystery.
The Olive Press reported in October 2020 that Ben was hospitalised following a vicious assault in 2017.
He was left for dead in Darwen, Lancashire, after being stabbed while he was asleep on a sofa.
Wai Ming Lam was convicted of burglary and stealing £1,600 and jailed for 38 months after driving two men to the address.
While he stayed in the car, the others – one of whom has never been identified – entered the property where they found Ben Nesbitt on the sofa.
A 29-year-old man- who was later jailed for six years and eight months -stabbed Ben who, according to reports, was only saved from death by the thick clothing he was wearing.
The judge said the case was all about drug dealing and Ben’s mother described the assailants as ‘scumbags’.
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