One of the men accused of the Ice Queen murder of Tekle Zion Mallory told Police how he felt the life drain out of the victim as he tried to pull him away from the fight.

Jahni Everett Bean, 19, went to Police to explain his involvement in the brawl outside the take-away restaurant in Paget - which ultimately led to the fatal stabbing of 22-year-old Mr. Mallory.

Supreme Court heard yesterday that Bean gave a statement to Police, claiming that he had tried to stop the fight and was attempting to pull Mr. Mallory away, when he realisedMr. Mallory had suffered a massive stomach injury.

Bean is jointly charged with the murder of Mr. Mallory, along with Quincy Stanley (Jimbo) Brangman, on July 21, 2001.

Brangman is also accused of wounding Lemuel Weeks, with intent to do grievous bodily harm, and of possession of an offensive weapon - a knife - on the same date. Both men deny the charges.

The prosecution has alleged that Bean held on to Mr. Mallory while his cousin, Brangman, inflicted the fatal stab wound to his abdomen, which resulted in massive blood loss and his guts hanging on the outside of his body.

Bean's defence has not disputed that he had hold of the victim, but said he was merely trying to pull him away from the trouble.

The court has heard how both Bean and Brangman went voluntarily to Police to give their accounts of the brawl the day it happened.

Yesterday, D.c. Jason Smith read Bean's Police statement to the court.

Bean said: "I went to the Ice Queen and was waiting for my food. A fight broke out. Everybody ran to the fight.

"I tried to stop it. After that there, I pulled Tekle, pulled him away and he was trying to get away from me.

"I felt him getting weaker and his speech got slower. The guy just dropped, with his insides hanging out.

"I never saw no one stab him, chop him, slice him, or however it happened.

"I gripped him from the back; I was standing behind him. After that, I ran. I looked at your boy's insides and I had blood on my clothes. I had a little patch of blood on my pants and that was it. I left the scene."

During a question-and-answer session with the Police, Bean said he went over to the fight to see if any of his 'ace boys' were involved.

But he told the Police that he "did not know all of them - nobody" involved in the fight.

When asked by detectives why he then decided to step in to pull someone out of the fight, he said: "I will stop any fight."

Bean said he believed Mr. Mallory had got the injury from "someone stabbing him, or whatever," but he said he did not see anyone stab him.

The seven-day trial has so far heard a number of different accounts from witnesses at the scene on the night in question.

One claimed she saw a knife in Brangman's hand just before he is alleged to have ran at the victim, and moments later she said Mr. Mallory fell to the ground.

Lemuel Weeks said he was stabbed in the back by Brangman, and then he saw the accused extend his arm to his friend Mr. Mallory's stomach.

Neither of them, however, said they saw a knife in Brangman's hand when it made contact with Mr. Mallory.

However, a number of other witnesses said they did not see any stabbing, or anyone with a knife in their hands, but on more than one occasion, the court has been told that Mr. Mallory was kicked, by both Bean and Brangman, and another man.

On Thursday, the trial took a dramatic twist when witness Kizuwanda VanPutten said she saw three people involved in the incident.

She said she saw Bean holding Mr. Mallory, as though pulling him away, and both Brangman and a third, so far unknown man, punching Mr. Mallory about his face and body.

After Bean left the area, she said she saw Brangman run at Mr. Mallory and punch him in the face and stomach, but said she saw the third man with a "silver, shiny object" in his right hand.

The witness said the third man then also punched Mr. Mallory, she believed in the lower chest, upper stomach area. It was after that that she saw blood on Bean, and that Mr. Mallory dropped to the ground.

The court heard yesterday from the man who led the investigation, Det. Insp. Antoine Daniels that the lighting outside Ice Queen was "very bad" on the night in question, but that two video tapes had been seized and looked at by Police.

One was taken from inside Ice Queen, and the other was placed above the cash machine in the car park.

Det. Insp. Daniels said neither of the tapes showed detail of the actual fight. But he said the one from inside the restaurant showed people rushing to look out of the window at about 3.40 a.m., which was presumably the fight.

And he said the cash machine camera at that time showed someone who was making a transaction turn around and look directly behind him - to where the fight was said to have started.

Mr. Mallory was unconscious when Police and ambulance crews arrived at or about 4 a.m., and he was officially pronounced dead at 5.35 a.m., following failed attempts by doctors to resuscitate him.

The case will continue on Monday afternoon before Assistant Justice Archibald Warner.