Armend Xhika stabbing accused was trying to break up fight, court told

Armend Xhika, 22, died in hospital of stab wounds

A man has denied stabbing another man to death in a row about a car crash.

Mentor Selmani, 28, admitted arming himself with a blade during a violent clash in Burngreave, Sheffield, in which Armend Xhika, 22, was killed.

But he insisted he produced the weapon only to "frighten" men who were arguing with his friend Eljaso Cela on 13 May 2021 and did not stab anyone.

Mr Selmani, Marsid Senia and Mardov Dushku are on trial for Mr Xhika's murder at Sheffield Crown Court.

Mr Selmani, Mr Senia, 25, and Mr Dushku, 30, are also accused of seriously injuring three of Mr Xhika's friends during a confrontation between two groups of Albanian men in Earl Marshal Road.

Prosecutors say Mr Cela and his brother Mateo also took part in the deadly violence, but they are not on trial as they remain on the run from the police.

Mr Cela and Mr Xhika arranged to meet in Burngreave to settle a disagreement over a crash they were involved in at Rotherham earlier on 13 May, the jury has heard.

'Trying to frighten them'

Mr Selmani told the court he had not been aware of the collision or any dispute when he drove to Earl Marshal Road with the intention of collecting Eljaso Cela and going shopping in Meadowhall.

The defendant arrived at the street with Mateo Cela at around 7pm in a Vauxhall Vivaro van he had borrowed from Eljaso.

Mr Selmani, who had moved to Sheffield from London about five weeks earlier, told the jury he got out of the van to have a cigarette and saw Eljaso and Mr Senia across the road speaking to a group of men he did not recognise.

He said his "impression was it was not a friendly conversation" and after crossing the street to hear better he felt "the atmosphere had worsened" so returned to the van to "try to find something to protect myself if the need be".

Mr Selmani told the court he came across a knife in the van's passenger door and put it in his pocket.

He admitted it was "stupid" to have armed himself but said at the time he had been concerned for his friends who were "surrounded by people I did not recognise".

"I was thinking that I was going to try to separate the two parties and frighten them in order for the others to leave," he added.

Violence broke out in Earl Marshal Road following a dispute over a car crash

CCTV footage played in court showed Mr Selmani running over with the knife when violence erupted as Eljaso Cela lunged at Mr Xhika.

The defendant accepted Mr Cela started the violence but said he had not seen this at the time and had been responding to one of Mr Xhika's group, Fatson Dushku, subsequently punching his friend.

The video showed Mr Selmani thrusting a knife towards another member of Mr Xhika's group, Mikael Kanachi. The defendant said he had been "pretending to hit" him with the butt of the knife to frighten him away and had made no contact with the weapon.

Asked if he had stabbed anyone, he said: "Absolutely not."

Mr Xhika suffered multiple stab wounds in the alleged attack and died at Northern General Hospital that night.

Mr Selmani, of Matcham Road, east London, Mr Senia, of Burnett Street, Bradford, and Mardov Dushku, of Shirecliffe Lane, Sheffield, each deny murder and three counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The trial continues.