A young woman told a murder trial jury how a night of drinking and dancing with her boyfriend ended in him being fatally stabbed through the heart.

Natasha Elsworth, the girlfriend of Mohammed Abdul Basier, was stood beside him when Kurdish Iraqi asylum seeker Dana Abdullah plunged a knife into his chest, killing the 27-year-old father, she told Bradford Crown Court today.

Abdullah, 29, is accused of murdering Mr Basier, known as “Baz”, outside the West End Bar, Lumb Lane, Manningham, in the early hours of February 22, 2004.

He has denied the charge.

The prosecution alleges Abdullah had been seeking revenge for an incident in the bar earlier that night when he received a slap in the face for spilling the drink of an Asian man who looked like Mr Basier.

Abdullah was thrown out of the bar but later returned with three friends after picking up a knife and confronting Mr Basier as he and Miss Elsworth left the bar to get a taxi home, the prosecution said.

Miss Elsworth told the jury: “We stopped and stood still because they came directly in front of us and as they walked in front of us he (Abdullah) said ‘you fight me’.

“As he said it he brought his hand up and brought it down really hard in Baz’s chest.”

Mr Basier then turned around and started running as Abdullah chased him, said Miss Elworthy. “He had stepped off the pavement and into the road and I just screamed ‘Baz, run!’”

Mr Basier collapsed in a pool of blood and died later from massive internal injuries.

The jury has heard Abdullah ran away before fleeing to France and Greece, sparking an international manhunt.

Also giving evidence, Gunaid Jaff, an Iraqi who lived in Ash Grove, Great Horton, Bradford, said Abdullah had woken him in the early hours to “ask him to fight a Pakistani guy” following the earlier scuffle.

“I tried to stop him but he didn’t stop,” said Mr Jaff. “I said don’t go but he didn’t listen to me and just went.”

When asked by Mr Hatton how he appeared, Mr Jaff replied: “His eyes were crazy, angry.”

Richard Mansell QC, for Abdullah, said his client was at Mr Jaff’s bedsit because he feared the Asian men would come to his home in Somerset Place.

Mr Mansell suggested the witness was “lying” about what had happened at his home but Mr Jaff replied: “He used to be my best friend. I have come here to tell the truth.”

The trial continues.