Man knifed in the neck, murder trial is told
A MAN was left to die in the street after being stabbed in the neck following an argument, a court heard.
Ashley Sarsero, who was 26, died from his injuries during the early hours of September 10 last year.
Yesterday, on the first day of the trial at Swansea Crown Court, the jury was told by prosecution barrister Michael Jones KC that James Alan Smith, 36, of Nelson Terrace, Llanelli, stabbed Mr Sarsero outside the victim’s home in Maestir, Llanelli.
The prosecution said that hours before the fatal incident Smith and a friend called Steven George Morgan, also 36, of Station Road, Llanelli, had met Mr Sarsero’s mother at a petrol station before the three of them returned to her home.
When Mr Sarsero returned home, an argument began and he and Smith ended up outside the property.
According to the prosecution, Smith was heard on a neighbour’s doorbell camera shouting: “I will stab you in the neck now.”
Mr Jones said that Smith later left the scene, leaving the victim “dying or dead from his injuries”, and that Morgan, who had previously left, returned to the scene and made a phone call to his co-defendant in which he told him to “run now”.
Morgan was arrested by police once they arrived at the property and Smith handed himself in for questioning later that day, when he too was arrested.
The court heard that, initially, Smith denied being at the address at the time of the incident and answered “no comment” to several questions.
However, Smith later admitted in a statement that he was at the scene and that he did have an altercation with Mr Sarsero.
He also admitted being in possession of a knife. However, he said he acted in self-defence and had “no idea” that his knife had made contact with Mr Sarsero.
He said in his statement that he
only intended to use the knife to “deter” Mr Sarsero.
The cause of Mr Sarsero’s death was officially declared as a “stab wound to the neck”. Mr Jones KC said that the knife used in the incident has never been found.
Mr Jones said it is the prosecution’s case that Smith was already armed with a knife and “deliberately and gratuitously stabbed Ashley Sarsero to his neck intending to cause him really serious or fatal harm”.
Smith is charged with murder and a lesser charge of manslaughter, while Morgan is charged with assisting an offender.
Both men deny the charges against them and the trial continues.