Knife that killed boy was length of A4 paper - friend

Muhammad Hassam Ali, aged 17, was fatally stabbed through the heart in Birmingham city centre

The friend of a boy stabbed to death in Birmingham city centre on a Saturday afternoon said the knife used to kill him was as long as an A4 sheet of paper, a jury has heard.

Muhammad Hassam Ali, 17 - known as Ali - was stabbed once in the chest as he sat with his friend in Victoria Square, Birmingham, on 20 January.

Two 15-year-old boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, deny murder and possessing a bladed article in a public place.

A jury at Coventry Crown Court were shown recorded witness statements from the victim's friend.

The victim's friend, who also cannot be named due to his age, told police two boys wearing masks and hoodies had approached them as they sat on a bench and asked: "Do you know anybody that jumped my mate last week?"

When Ali and his friend said they did not know what they were talking about, Ali told them to "go away" along with an offensive remark, the witness said.

He told police the altercation had lasted four or five minutes before one of the boys pulled out a large knife from his trousers.

Later, when giving evidence in the witness box with a curtain concealing his identity, he told the court he thought the boy had pulled out the knife to scare them.

Moments later, one of the boys stabbed Ali once in the right side of his chest before both of them ran off, he said.

Jurors shown sketch

Ali's friend admitted he and the victim had both been "aggressive" to the two males when they were approached by them, and started questioning them because they did not know who they were or what they were talking about.

The jury of six men and six women were told that two youths, one of them wearing gloves and both with their hoods up and Covid-style blue masks on, approached Ali and his friend "out of nowhere".

The victim's friend told police the knife was about the length of an A4 piece of paper.

Jurors were shown a sketch by the boy showing a double-pronged blade with a serrated edge.

Due to their age, the defendants are hearing evidence not from the dock but from the well of the court, while the judge and barristers are not wearing traditional robes and wigs.

On Tuesday, Ali's family in the public gallery sobbed as CCTV footage which captured the moment he was stabbed and him staggering down the steps in Victoria Square where he was helped by members of the public was shown to the jury.

A post-mortem examination found that Ali had died of a single stab wound to the right-hand side of his chest that was 6cm deep and 4.3cm wide and had penetrated his lung and his heart.

The trial is due to last up to three weeks.