A Kurdish Iraqi asylum seeker took the stand at Bradford Crown Court yesterday to deny murdering a 27-year-old father by stabbing him through the heart.

Dana Abdullah, 29, is accused of killing Mohammed Basier, known as “Baz” outside the West End Bar in Lumb Lane, Bradford, in February 2004, before going on the run.

The jury has been told Abdullah was caught five years later in Greece, using an alias and false documents, and was extradited to Britain on a European arrest warrant.

At his trial at Bradford Crown Court yesterday, Abdullah said he had been “fed up” after being falsely accused of spilling a drink belonging to an Asian man who had a similar appearance to Mr Basier, a salesman, of Allerton, Bradford.

He said the man assaulted him and another Asian man punched him in a fracas in the West End Bar before he was thrown out.

Abdullah told the jury, through an interpreter, that a group of men had approached him in the toilet saying: “we know where you live” and threatening him.

He admitted returning to the scene of Mr Basier’s murder later in the night with a group of friends but said he had only gone there to ask why he had been attacked.

The prosecution claims Abdullah had “recruited” the men to support him while he exacted revenge by stabbing Mr Basier, whom he wrongly believed had attacked him.

However, Abdullah said Mr Basier, who was coming out of the bar with his girlfriend, had walked up to him in the street and jumped on him.

He said: “When I lifted my head… he was running away. My eyes were hurting. I chased him and then I left him.”

He claimed another, unknown man stabbed the father-of-one but could not say who.

In cross examination, prosecutor David Hatton QC said: “You thought he (Mr Basier) was one of those, if not the person, who attacked you, so you plunged a knife into his chest.”

Abdullah replied: “No.”

After seeing news reports that Mr Basier had died, Abdullah said he agreed with the other Kurdish asylum seekers who were at the murder scene to “hide themselves,” the court heard.

He told the jury: “It was broadcast that somebody near the bar was killed.

“We discussed it among ourselves that, if there is the chance, we should leave. We also thought the police would be searching for us and, even if the police let us go, the Pakistanis wouldn’t leave us alone.”

The trial continues.