On the first day of testimony in the manslaughter trial of two Warwick men yesterday prosecutor Dorien Taylor told the jury that the dead man had been running away from a fight and defending himself with a slingshot before he was stabbed to death.

And a forensic pathologist detailed 19 separate injuries to the victim including a life-snuffing stab in the back in which his left lung was punctured - and collapsed - by a blade at least nine-and-half inches long.

Jamal Chicke Robinson, 28, and Keniel Ingham, 24, are charged with the unlawful killing of Jermaine (Red) Pitcher on February 27, 2000 during a street fight outside Champion's night club.

Yesterday, Mr. Taylor told the jury they would hear references to Ryan Rudolph Ball throughout the trial and explained that Ball had already pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of Mr. Pitcher earlier this year.

"It is the Crown's case that the deceased man, Red, was seen being chased by Ball, Robinson and Ingham and that the deceased had a slingshot in an attempt to ward of his attackers," said Mr. Taylor.

"At one point in time, Red was invaded by the three men once he'd lost the slingshot and held by the (two) accused while Ball inflicted injuries on him with a machete."

Mr. Taylor told the jury they would hear from witnesses who saw the men fighting and one who saw one of the accused men with Mr. Pitcher in a neck hold.

The eight-woman, four-man jury heard from the forensic pathologist who performed the post-mortem on Mr. Pitcher.

Dr. John Oladapo Obafunwa explained that he was both a histopathologist who specialises in examining tissue samples to make diagnoses to determine cause of death and a forensic pathologist concerned with medical-legal issues.

He told the court he was informed that Jermaine Pitcher had died in the early hours of February 27, 2000 and that he has visited the scene that afternoon.

The following day Dr. Obafunwa said he conducted an autopsy on the dead man and he took the jury through the victim's 19 various wounds - occasionally using a court Police Officer to indicate the area of the body affected.

The body had stab wounds, slashes and abrasions to the neck, the left side of the face, the back of the left arm, the mid back, above the pelvis, and to the legs, he said.

Both knees had scrapes on them, Dr. Obafunwa said: "Definitely at some point, the victim would have been on his knees."

And, he described in detail three wounds to the dead man's back - two slashes and a deep stab wound.

He said the two slashes were probably made by the same motion and only appeared as two separate wounds because the weapon would have jumped when it came to the body's indentation along the spine.

A stab wound in the back below the two slashes penetrated the chest cavity, he said.

His internal examination showed "it stopped short of coming out the front of the chest" and was inflicted by a tapered weapon about nine and half inches long.

This wound penetrated the victim's left lung in both the lower and upper lobe, filling his chest cavity with air.

At this stage, Dr. Obafunwa said the victim's lung collapsed and he would have had difficulty breathing. "But there was no significant bleeding into the chest, therefore the blood loss suffered by the victim was obtained later."

Other than signs of violence on the victim, Dr. Obafunwa said he appeared to have been in good health and his organs were normal.

Analysis of the victim's urine showed the presence of alcohol and marijuana, he added.

The victim died as a result of his chest cavity filling with air after the penetrating stab, he said, adding there was also severe external blood loss.

Dr. Obafunwa also noted that two cars parked at the crime scene near Champions - a BMW and the Daewoo - both had trails of blood leading away and back to them and one had a "spray" of blood on its rear right side.

The court also heard from two Police Scenes of Crime (SOC) Officers who attended the scene on Reid Street in the early hours of February 27 after Police had cordoned it off.

DC Steven Palmer told the court that he photographed the crime scene at roughly 6 a.m. - both outside on Reid Street and inside Champion's - and later took additional photos at the hospital and the SOC office.

Photographs taken by DC Palmer were submitted into evidence which showed areas of blood splattering on Reid Street, two cars at the scene, a Suzuki at KEMH, items of damaged clothing taken from the dead man, other items of clothing and photos of Pitcher taken during the post-mortem.

Mr. Taylor also called DC Paul Henry who told the court he collected evidence at the scene and received several items of evidence from other officers such as a Victoria Knott's knife, two blood stained towels, clothing, a piece of rope with a lock, a Guinness bottle, swabs of blood taken from Reid Street and the three cars and vials of blood collected from .

Some of these items, were later taken by DC Henry to a forensic scientist with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Halifax for examination.

Dr. Obafunwa will continue giving evidence as the trial continues today before Assistant Chief Justice Archibald Warner. Robinson is represented by Victoria Pearman and Ingham by Venous Telford. Graveney Bannister is assisting Mr. Taylor.