University student fatally stabbed man in heart after dispute over fake Rolex, court hears

A student stabbed a man from another university five times in the chest, including once in the heart, after a row over a fake Rolex, a court has heard.

Leicester Crown Court was told on Monday that Harper Dennis, 18, fell out with De Montfort student Khaleed Oladipo, 20, in a dispute over money before plunging a knife 13cm-deep into him near the university’s campus in February earlier this year.

Dennis, who is charged with murder, having an article with a blade or point and failing to provide the Pin for his phone, sat in the dock while prosecutor Jane Osborne KC alleged that he killed his former friend.

Opening the Crown’s case, Ms Osborne told the jury: “It was the 3rd of February this year, 2026, shortly after 5pm, on a wet evening in Leicester, near to the university campus, where Khaleed Oladipo, who was a student at De Montfort University, was stabbed.

“He was stabbed not once, but a number of times. Only one of those stab wounds was fatal. That one fatal wound unfortunately penetrated his heart.”

Ms Osborne then told the court that Mr Oladipo collapsed in the street and never regained consciousness.

She added: “Khaleed Oladipo was killed not by a stranger, but by somebody who knew him. Khaleed Oladipo and Harper Dennis, this defendant, knew each other from online gaming.

“Whereas Khaleed Oladipo was in his third year at De Montfort University, Harper Dennis was in his first year at the University of Leicester.

“They had previously been friends. They were part of a Snapchat group together, but there had been a falling out seemingly over money that, at the very least, Harper Dennis perceived was owed to him by Khaleed Oladipo.

“It would seem the perceived debt was the reason that Harper Dennis attacked Khaleed Oladipo in the street on the 3rd of February.”

The prosecutor said Khaleed Oladipo and Harper Dennis were both in Oxford Street, close to De Montfort University’s Innovation Centre, when the stabbing, which was captured on dashcam footage, happened.

Ms Osborne added that the two men engaged in a “short struggle” before they both went to the floor.

The prosecutor told the court the footage shows the defendant’s arm in a “backwards and forwards” motion, “consistent with the stab wounds inflicted to the left hand side of Khaleed Oladipo’s chest”.

She continued: “Having been stabbed, Khaleed Oladipo rises to his knees and the defendant runs off. He isn’t pursued. It’s clear Khaleed Oladipo is not capable of pursuing Harper Dennis. It was an incident that lasted, in reality, seconds.”

The court was told Mr Oladipo was on the phone with his girlfriend, who heard him say “Why did you come up to me and stab me?”

A witness who had been driving in traffic recalled seeing a “snowstorm of feathers from one of their coats” during the altercation, Ms Osborne said.

The woman got out of her car to help Mr Oladipo, the jury heard, and saw a knife “parallel” to where he lay on the ground.

Ms Osborne told jurors Mr Oladipo’s cause of death was a 13cm-deep stab wound to the left side of his chest which went into his heart.

The prosecutor said there were four other stab wounds to his chest area, which did not contribute to his death, while a defensive wound was found on his hand.

Ms Osborne told the jury two calls were made by Dennis to Mr Oladipo’s girlfriend Shekeizah Fowler-Palmer on Christmas Day last year.

The barrister said: “The caller said to her Khaleed was a bad guy and that Khaleed owed him £3,000. That caller intimated if Khaleed did not give the money, he, the caller, would come to her.”

Ms Osborne said there was an occasion when Mr Oladipo gave Dennis a watch to sell and advised him not to go to certain jewellers because it was a fake Rolex.

When Dennis went to sell the watch, he was “laughed at” because it was fake and was “embarrassed and angry” with Mr Oladipo, jurors were told.

The prosecutor said messages between the two suggest they had fallen out for an unknown reason, including one from Dennis which said he “won’t ever forget” what Mr Oladipo did.

In a Snapchat message from Dennis to Mr Oladipo on Boxing Day last year, he said he would “dedicate his life to making sure you suffer for what you did”, the court heard.

Dennis, of North Road in West Drayton, London, denies the charges against him.

The trial, which is expected to last three weeks, continues.