The Ice Queen murder trial took a dramatic twist yesterday when a witness claimed she had seen a third, unknown man with a "silver, shiny object" in his right hand on the night that Tekle Zion Mallory was stabbed to death.

Witness Kizuwanda Van Putten told Supreme Court that she had been at the take-away restaurant in Paget in July of 2001, the night Mr. Mallory was killed, and saw three men around the victim around the time of the attack.

She said Jahni Everett Bean was holding Mr. Mallory, and she said she saw Quincy Stanley (Jimbo) Brangmen run at the victim and punch him in the stomach and face.

However, she told the hushed courtroom that she also saw a third man, who she did not know, with a silver object in his hand just before he, too, punched Mr. Mallory.

When pressed by prosecutor Vinette Graham-Allen, she said she believed the punch by the unknown man was in the lower chest and upper stomach area - and indicated by running her hand up her breast bone area.

She said soon after the 22-year-old victim fell to the ground. He had a severe stab wound to his abdomen that ultimately led to his death.

Both Bean and Brangman have been accused of his murder, but deny the charge.

Brangman has also denied wounding Lemuel Weeks, who was a friend of Mr. Mallory, with intent to do grievous bodily harm, and possession of an offensive weapon - a knife - on the same day.

The prosecution has alleged that Bean was holding Mr. Mallory from behind while his cousin Brangman stabbed him in the stomach.

Bean's defence, however, has claimed that 19-year-old Bean was only trying to drag Mr. Mallory away from the trouble.

Ms Van Putten said she had been inside the restaurant for food and was heading back to her friend's car when she saw a fight break out in the parking lot, near to the cash machine.

But she said she did not recognise who was fighting.

"I saw Tekle jump up on the hedges - I noticed he was trying to stop the fight," said Ms Van Putten.

"After he had jumped up on the bushes, he jumped down and tried to separate the two boys. After he separated the two boys, I continued to walk down to where the car was."

Ms Van Putten said when she got half way, she heard someone yelling and turned back to see what was happening.

"I saw Jahni pulling Tekle out of the crowd," she added.

"While Jahni had Tekle out of the crowd, I saw Quincy come running at Tekle. Jahni was holding Tekle back.

"I saw Quincy punch him - around his stomach and his face."

But Ms Van Putten said there was another man near to Brangman who was also hitting Mr. Mallory.

She said she did not see the face of this man, and would probably not be able to recognise him again, but said he was a black man, with shortcut hair.

She added: "The man who was standing next to Quincy had a silver, shiny object in his hand. He had it close to his side."

The witness said: "Jahni was behind Tekle. It seemed he was trying to pull him away. Soon after the (third) boy punched Tekle, then I saw blood on Jahni's shirt. Then I saw Jahni drop Tekle. Jahni started to brisk walk towards where I was standing."

The witness said after Bean dropped Mr. Mallory and walked away, she saw Brangman and somebody else kick the victim, however, she said she did not know who the second person was.

She said she then pushed Bean, who was looking concerned and shocked, away "from what had just happened", and he left the scene in a jeep, and she left in a different car.

Defending Brangman, Peter Thornton QC, asked Ms Van Putten if the silver object had looked like a knife, but she said she did not know.

Mr. Thornton asked the witness why she had claimed in her Police statement that what she saw was something "silver and pointy".

He said the statement later said "it looked like a knife".

But the young woman said the statement was incorrect, and she had described the object as "silver and shiny".

She said the officer had asked if it had looked like a knife, and she had replied that 'it could have been'.

Mr. Thornton said: "And he was the only person you saw holding something like that."

To which she replied: "Yes."

And Mr. Thornton QC suggested she had been mistaken when she saw Brangman punching the victim.

But she responded: "No, I'm not mistaken. It was Quincy."

And she said she thought she had seen the third man, who had the object, punching Mr. Mallory about his face and stomach area, but when questioned more closely by the prosecution, she said: "I think it was his chest" and ran her hand along her breast bone, down to her upper stomach.

Canadian forensic analyst Sandra Lumgair told the court she had discovered five different DNA profiles from blood found either at the scene or on the clothes of Mr. Mallory, Mr. Weeks, Brangman and Bean. Two of the profiles belonged to Mr. Mallory and Mr. Weeks, the other three remain unidentified.

The case continues.