A man has been charged with helping a murder suspect to flee Norfolk.
Vitor Emanuel Silva, 22, appeared at Norwich Magistrates’ Court accused of assisting an offender following a fatal stabbing in Great Yarmouth.
He is accused of having organised travel and accommodation for Junior Suleimane who was wanted following the death of Felizardo Jose Viera-Balde, 23, after being attacked on February 8 last year.
Suleimane, 22, was arrested at Leeds bus station in West Yorkshire five days later following a national appeal by Norfolk police.
READ MORE: Three arrested after Great Yarmouth murder
He is due to stand trial in July for murder and possessing a knife in a public place after the jury in an earlier trial last year were discharged for legal reasons.
Silva, of Crossway Terrace in Loddon, spoke only to confirm his name, age and address but did not enter a plea to the allegations that his actions from the day before the murder until February 12 helped Suleimane to evade capture.
The court was told he was accused of “facilitating travel out of the county and booking accommodation to enable an offender to travel to London and onto Leeds to evade arrest, with intent to impede the apprehension or prosecution”.
Deputy District Judge Lisa Towell committed his case to Norwich Crown Court after telling Silva it was too serious to be heard by magistrates.
A second man, Jaimes Santos, 43, of Nelson Road South in Yarmouth, had earlier been charged with assisting an offender.
He was arrested with Suleimane in Leeds and is set to stand trial in July having denied the offence.
READ MORE: Shock after man stabbed to death in Great Yarmouth
The death of Mr Viera-Balde left local people in shock after the fatal attack happened in broad daylight on St Peter's Road, just yards from Great Yarmouth's Golden Mile.
The Portuguese factory worker, who lived 10 minutes away at Elstow Hotel, was found collapsed in an alleyway off Wellington Road.
An inquest heard he died at the scene from a single stab wound.
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