Murder accused Quincy Stanley (Jimbo) Brangman stabbed Tekle Zion Mallory in the stomach when he tried to stop a fight at the Ice Queen take-away restaurant, Supreme Court heard yesterday.

Two witnesses told the court that they saw Brangman lunge towards the 22-year-old during a fight at the Paget eatery in July of 2001 - causing him major internal injuries that led to his death soon afterwards. Brangman, 23, is jointly accused of Mr. Mallory's murder along with Jahni Everett Bean, 19.

Brangman is also charged with 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 have claimed that Brangman stabbed Mr. Mallory to death while he was being held by Bean. Yesterday, Mr. Weeks, 21, from Somerset, who was a friend of the deceased, took to the stand and claimed that he had been approached by Brangman at Ice Queen, and subsequently attacked.

He told the court that Brangman had accused him of wanting a fight. He said the defendant then threw a punch at him, and a scuffle broke out.

The pair ended up in a large, walled planted area at Ice Queen, with Brangman on top.

"We started scuffling; Jimbo got me in the trees," Mr. Weeks told the jury. "I landed on my back in the bushes. My feet were hanging over the wall. I still had my juice bottle in my hand, so I pressed it against his face and busted it on his face.

"Eventually, he backed up and I got out of the bush. His face was all bloody."

Mr. Weeks said he then walked away and went towards his bike to leave.

"I was getting ready to go to my bike," he added. "Jimbo came and stabbed me behind my arm, in the back. He then ran off. Tekle was standing right there. Tekle was asking him `what's the trouble'. I saw Jimbo's arm extend to his (Tekle's) stomach. Jimbo then ran off."

Mr. Weeks said he ran after Brangman, but claimed the murder accused jumped on his bike, which had its engine running near to the exit of the Ice Queen car park, and then left.

"When I returned, I saw Tekle lying out with his guts spilled over. I just noticed him lying there. It was not like everyone was crowding around him. It was just me and my friends."

Leading the prosecution, Director of Public Prosecutions Khamisi Tokunbo asked Mr. Weeks why he had shoved the glass bottle of fruit juice into Brangman's face.

He replied: "That was the only way to get him off me."

But Mr. Weeks told the court that he did not actually see Brangman stab him in the left side of his back, although he claimed he felt a "prick" and turned to see him run off. And he said he did not see a knife in the hand of the accused when he went up to Mr. Mallory and extended his arm to his stomach.

The court heard that Mr. Weeks had been in a fight earlier that same night in the bathrooms of the Show Time nightclub in Dockyard.

He said he got into a fight with a man who he knew as Lexus, or Jason, and both of them were thrown out of the club by security staff.

The two men started fighting again outside, but then headed back into the club separately.

Mr. Weeks told the court he went back into the bathroom to wash off his bloody mouth, where he claimed he saw Lexus and Brangman talking.

The witness said a club security officer in the bathroom then told him to leave, saying he had "had enough".

Mr. Weeks said he left with his friends, including Mr. Mallory, and they all went to Cambridge Courts in Somerset, before deciding to travel down to Ice Queen for food at about 4 a.m.

But defence counsel for Brangman, Peter Thornton QC, asked why Mr. Weeks had failed to tell Police in his statements about the fight at Show Time.

Mr. Weeks claimed it was because officers had not asked him, and he did not think it relevant.

Mr. Thornton said: "Was it because if you had told them, when you came to events at the Ice Queen, the Police might not have believed you so much if they thought you had been fighting at Show Time?"

And Mr. Thornton suggested it was Mr. Weeks who had started both the fights, with Lexus and Brangman, and also challenged the sequence of events that night.

He said: "I'm going to suggest to you that you did not put the bottle in his face and you are trying to protect the memory of Tekle by saying you were the one who had the bottle.

"I would suggest that you were fighting Quincy Brangman and he was holding you in the bushes to stop you fighting him, and that Tekle came up and bottled Quincy in the face, so he would let go of you.

"Then he (Brangman) was injured and got out of the way."

But Mr. Weeks denied that chain of events.

He said: "No, I put the bottle in his face. There was blood coming down his face. He then came and stabbed me."

But the Queen's Counsel also questioned why Mr. Weeks had not told Police that Brangman had ran off after the attack, and said Brangman's bike was not left running near the exit of the car park, as told by Mr. Weeks.

Under cross-examination, Mr. Weeks said he had not actually heard Mr. Mallory say `what's the problem' to Brangman, but he saw him motion with his arms out stretched and mouth something.

Mr. Weeks said: "Tekle ain't no person to fight. They did not fight. All he was trying to do was stop the fight."

Mr. Weeks said when he arrived at Ice Queen there was crowds of people, but said when the fighting broke out, many people left.

He said when Mr. Mallory was attacked, he had a clear view of the events as there were not a lot of people around.

He said he saw no one else in the vicinity of Mr. Mallory, except Brangman.

However, 16-year-old Sasha Laquita Richardson told the court that she was at Ice Queen and said the area was crowded, particularly in the vicinity of the fighting.

And she gave a different sequence of events to Mr. Weeks'.

Crying throughout her evidence, the Somerset teenager, who was only 14 at the time of the murder, said she knew Mr. Mallory and Mr. Weeks and the defendants prior to the incident.

She said she saw Mr. Weeks and Brangman fighting, and Mr. Mallory had gone in to push Mr. Weeks out of the way.

She said: "I saw Tekle come in. He gripped Lemy by the chest and pushed him out of the way. Then Tekle shouted `who hit me?'."

She added: "Jimbo pulled a knife from his left side. It came from a black case. Jimbo ran at Tekle, and Tekle just fell to the ground. His left side was bloody. He had wounds to his side.

After that Jahni was kicking him in his legs and his side. He was kicking Tekle while Tekle was on the ground."

Under cross examination, Ms Richardson said she did not see the knife in Brangman's hand when he ran towards Mr. Mallory because his hands were out of view.

But Mr. Thornton asked the teenager if she had told Police that she only saw kicking on the night in question.

She said "No", adding that if she had said that, it would be wrong. Mr. Thornton said: "Did you just see kicking, and have you developed a story to get involved in this case."

The young witness replied: "No."

Assisting Mr. Thornton is lawyer Michael Scott, while defending Bean is Frank Phipps QC, assisted by Patrick Doherty.

Vinette Graham-Allen is assisting Mr. Tokunbo, and Assistant Justice Archie Warner is presiding. The case continues.