THE details of how stab victim Dele Little beat up the man accused of later killing him have been laid bare to a court by a 16-year-old boy.

The youngster told the court how he and friends had agreed to let 15-year-old Dele and Aaron Roche have a "one on one fight" because there were 25 or 30 of them and it would have been "ridiculous" had they all jumped in.

Describing the fight as he gave his evidence via video link, he said: "Dele says 'come on then' and he runs at the matey. They start fighting. Dele nuts him a few times and then punches him and they keep fighting.

"In the end Dele got the better of him and they carry on fighting for a while. I see (a friend) jump in and kick matey's hand and something flies across. He shouts "it's a knife". Dele walks off and he's bleeding everywhere. When I see Dele laid on the floor me (and two friends) went and beated the matey up."

Asked why he got involved by defence barrister Tim Mousley QC, the boy said: "I don't know. I just saw my mate on the floor and lost it. My mate, he had quite a lot of blood. I was kicking him (Roche) in the tummy, chest and probably got him in the face a couple of times. He was on the ground by then."

Asked did he hold back on the attack, the boy said "no".

He continued: "After that I ran over to see how Dele was. He said he couldn't see properly and he was going all dizzy. We saw matey run off and we ran after him. Everyone else said 'stop' and then I ran over to see how Dele was and he didn't look too good."

Asked why they chased Roche, the boy said: "Dele wouldn't stop bleeding so we were basically going to go and beat up the boyfriend."

He agreed when asked by Mr Mousley that had Dele not been in such a bad way the attack on Roche would not have stopped, adding: "I would have hurt him but I wouldn't kill him."

Mr Mousley told the youngster that Roche had already been given "a savage beating" by Dele and he replied: "But it still doesn't mean you go and stab someone does it?"

Mr Mousley said Roche had ended up bent over a wall with his hands over his face trying to protect himself but that didn't stop Dele "punching him like a boxer". He told the court that Roche had been "chucked all over the car park" and he had been smashed into cars. He ended up with his jumper pulled over his head - a "cowardly" act because Roche could not defend himself.

Roche, 21, of Ringwood Road, Lyndhurst, denies one charge of murder.

The case continues.