Man ‘slashed his friend’s throat during night out’

32-YEAR-OLD DENIES ATTACK AT BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

A MAN celebrating his brother’s birthday told a court how a friend they were enjoying drinks with suddenly slashed his throat.

The 23-year-old needed emergency treatment to a 13cm-long neck wound, which severed muscle and cartilage.

The alleged incident happened on the evening of July 25 last year, when the brothers, defendant Gurpinder Singh, and another man went by car to a rural spot in Covert Lane, Scraptoft, to have a celebratory outdoor drink.

The defendant allegedly resented the fact his friend’s younger brother had formerly had a brief relationship with his sister when 32-year-old Singh was in India.

Singh allegedly confronted the younger brother about it, grabbing him around the neck.

The older brother ended up exchanging pushes with Singh, who then allegedly vented his anger by slashing the older brother’s neck with a craft-knife, it was claimed at Leicester Crown Court.

The alleged victim told the jury he took off his T-shirt to stem the extensive bleeding, while Singh allegedly washed the knife in a puddle.

He claimed the defendant expressed regret, saying he had “made a mistake”.

The younger brother then drove them to hospital and Singh accompanied him inside.

Singh of New Romney Crescent, Scraptoft, denies attempted murder and an alternative count of wounding with intent.

He also denies making a threat to kill the younger brother and common assault upon him.

At hospital, the alleged victim accepted he told the police he did not know who the culprit was, describing an unknown hooded male with his face covered – in order to protect his friend, Singh.

Under cross-examination, defence counsel Mary Prior QC suggested he did tell the police the truth about the knifeman being a random stranger and was now falsely blaming Singh. But the alleged victim insisted he lied to the police in the first instance.

Caroline Bradley, prosecuting, had earlier told the jury: “It was a very serious neck injury and the Crown’s case it was inflicted by the defendant in anger and with an intent to kill.

The court heard Singh first met the brothers, who lived nearby, five months before the alleged stab attack.

He became close friends with the older of the two and they socialised almost daily.

On later learning of the younger brother’s brief relationship with his sister, Singh allegedly told his friend he went looking for his brother to attack him with a knife, but he was “lucky” to have been safely at work that day.

The older brother told the jury: “He said he wanted to slash my brother. I told him to relax and he seemed to calm down. I thought it was in the past.”

It was two weeks later that they went to Covert Lane. The alleged victim, who required multiple stitches, raised his chin in the witness box to reveal a scar to the seven women and five men on the jury. The trial continues.