Witness on moment of fatal teen street stabbing

Ahmad Mamdouh Al Ibrahim, 16, died from a single stab wound to his neck

The friend of a teenager who was fatally stabbed has described how the man accused of his murder had looked "normal" in the moments before the attack.

Syrian refugee Ahmad Mamdouh Al Ibrahim was stabbed on Ramsden Street in Huddersfield town centre on 3 April.

The 16-year-old had only been living in the town for a few weeks after moving up from south Wales when he died.

Alfie Franco, 20, of The Crescent, Kirkburton, denies murder and is on trial at Leeds Crown Court.

The witness, who was 16 at the time of the incident, said he had met his friend at the bus station and the pair then went to a clothes shop.

They then walked down the street, passing a man and a woman stood together.

The court had previously heard how Ahmad had brushed past the woman, who was the defendant's girlfriend.

In the police interview played to the court, the victim's friend said the defendant had beckoned them towards him after they passed

The man, he said, made a gesture to them and added it was "a normal interaction".

The witness said he saw the defendant "reach into his pocket" with his right hand as Ahmad approached him.

"Straight away he pulled something out and he stabbed my friend. He [Ahmad] walked some steps and then fell down."

The teenager told officers the man was not known to either of them, though he had seen him once before at the bus station.

The fatal stabbing happened in Huddersfield town centre in April

A separate video of the witness being cross-examined was also shown in court.

Gill Batts KC, defending, asked him about what he had said in his police interview.

"You said 'he called my friend, just come'."

The witness said it had not been verbal: "I mean by words, it was a signal. He just signalled 'come to us'."

The witness was asked if the defendant said anything.

"First my friend said 'what?' So, the defendant also repeated, or he said also, 'what?'

"And then straightforward he stabbed him in the neck and then he fled the scene."

Ms Batts asked if his friend spoke to the defendant first.

He said Ahmad had asked: "Why look see?"

"Meaning 'why are you looking or staring at us?'"

He was asked about his description of the defendant as looking "like a normal person".

"Yes, he seemed normal," he replied.

'Vascular and airway trauma'

Jurors also head evidence from Dr Robert Ainsworth, a forensic pathologist, who confirmed Ahmad had died from a single stab wound to the right side of the neck.

He said the victim, who had also been injured as a child of three in Syria, had a horizontal wound about 4cm in length.

"The injury passed from right to left, creating vascular and airway trauma," he said.

The trial continues.

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