A university graduate, Mr Adegbite, 28, known as Bengz was apparently killed by the trio on July 19 last year as they tried to steal his Apple MacBook. He had listed the laptop on online marketplace Gumtree and agreed to meet a potential buyer in a street in Enfield, north London, along with his friend, Mohammed Umar.
Yesterday, the Old Bailey heard that he was met by three men who threatened him with a large knife but left empty-handed when he refused to hand over the laptop. Mr Adegbite, who also coached young footballers, was later stabbed in the heart when he confronted the gang on a nearby street, it was claimed.
Christopher Nzeh, 18, Montel Ajayi, 19 and Isaac Owen-Brady, 18, are all accused of murder but deny the charge. Prosecutor Simon Mayo, told the court that the trio had travelled to Enfield for the specific purpose of robbing Mr Adegbite of his Apple computer.
He said the three men were carrying a folding knife which they used, unopened, to reinforce the threat that was designed to persuade Mr Adegbite to hand over the computer. Jurors heard that Mr Owen-Brady asked to be passed the knife so that he could use it as a weapon and tried to get into the car that Mr Adegbite and Mr Umar were in.
Mr Mayo added: "The planned robbery was unsuccessful as Mr Adegbite and his friend stood their ground and resisted the defendant's efforts to rob them. Realising that Mr Adegbite was not going to be a push-over, the defendants left the scene empty-handed.
"Understandably upset and irritated by what the defendants had done, Mr Adegbite and his friends decided to try and follow the defendants in the hope that they might be better able to identify them. They called for assistance and armed themselves before confronting the three defendants in nearby Lackmore Road."
During the confrontation, Mr Mayo said Mr Adegbite had a metal bar with him when he got out of the car to square up to the defendants. However, he was attacked during the showdown, stabbed shortly before 7.00 pm and was pronounced dead at 7.31 pm.
"While taking that iron bar with him might not have been the wisest course of action, it was perhaps understandable in the light of the fact that he had been threatened with that rather nasty looking knife just minutes before. Within moments the defendant, Christopher Nzeh, had taken out the knife he was carrying, opened it to expose the blade and he then plunged it into Mr Adegbite's chest," Mr Mayo added.
Mr Owen-Brady has pleaded guilty to a similar robbery in March 21, 2014, pulling out a knife to rob two men of a games console after they advertised it for sale on Gumtree. According to Mr Mayo, the three defendants are guilty on the basis of joint enterprise, even though Mr Nzeh is accused of inflicting the fatal stab wound.
Mr Ajayi, of Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, Mr Owen-Brady, of Enfield, and Mr Nzeh, of Hitchin, Hertfordshire, denied one count of murder and a second count of having a bladed article in a public place. They all admitted one count of conspiracy to commit robbery, however.
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