A man has been found guilty of manslaughter following the death of a 20-year-old man in Bournemouth.
Jamie Frank Higgs, aged 19 and of Windsor Road in Bournemouth, was convicted on Wednesday 5 August 2020 of the manslaughter of Kai Archer following a 12-day trial at Winchester Crown Court. He will be sentenced on Thursday 6 August 2020.
During the evening of Saturday 16 November 2019 Kai was at his home address socialising with Higgs and a teenage girl. During this time Kai arranged to meet a teenage boy and it was agreed that Higgs and the girl would accompany him.
Just before 10pm the group left Kai’s home address and walked along St Swithun’s Road toward the junction with Knyveton Road. Higgs appeared agitated before leaving and asked if he was being set up.
As they were walking, Higgs struck Kai to the back of the head with a WKD bottle, which he then discarded and was later recovered by officers.
Shortly afterwards the group met up with the boy, who was in the company of a male friend, outside Bournemouth Pizza Company. Kai made the comment “he bottled me” and an altercation then occurred between him and Higgs.
During the incident, witnesses described seeing Higgs jabbing at Kai.
Kai fell sideways onto a car and slipped onto the floor while bleeding heavily from his abdomen.
At 10.10pm Dorset Police was called to a report of a stabbing. Officers attended, assisted by the ambulance service, and Kai was taken to hospital. He was very sadly pronounced dead a short time later.
A post-mortem examination was carried out and revealed that Kai died as a result of three stab wounds to the left side of his chest and abdomen.
A full investigation was launched led by detectives from Dorset Police’s Major Crime Investigation Team (MCIT).
Following extensive searches and enquiries, at around 5.40am on Sunday 17 November 2019 officers arrested Higgs.
Clothing that Higgs was wearing on the night was seized and found to have blood on it that provided a DNA match to Kai Archer.
Detective Inspector Rich Dixey, of MCIT, said: “This case demonstrates how carrying a knife can have catastrophic consequences, which ultimately led to the death of Kai Archer.
“Our thoughts remain with Kai’s family and friends at this extremely difficult time.”
