Murder victim Tekle Zion Mallory may have been taken by surprise during a deadly knife attack in the parking lot of the Paget Ice Queen on July 21, 2001, forensic pathologist Dr. John Obafunwa said yesterday.

Offering expert evidence as the trial of accused killers Quincy Stanley Brangman and Jahni Everett Bean began in Supreme Court, Dr. Obafunwa said Mr. Mallory died as a result of massive blood loss following a series of stab wounds - one of which nearly completely severed a major artery.

Having performed an autopsy on Mr. Mallory's body just hours after his death on July 21, 2001, Dr. Obafunwa said there was no evidence that the young man struggled to defend his life.

"The absence of defensive wounds suggests a surprise attack," he said.

The former King Edward VII Memorial Hospital pathologist was the second witness to offer evidence yesterday after Director of Public Prosecutions Khamisi Tokunbo made opening statements before the jury of eight women and four men.

Brangman, 23, and Bean, 19, are jointly charged with Mr. Mallory's murder. Brangman also faces two additional charges of wounding Lemuel Jamal Weeks with intent to do bodily harm and possession of an offensive weapon.

Both men deny the charges.

Opening his case, Mr. Tokunbo told the jury they will hear evidence that the murder victim tried to intervene in another bloody altercation - between Brangman and Mr.Weeks - before he was stabbed to death by Brangman as Bean restrained him from behind.

As many as 150 people may have witnessed the deadly assault at the Paget Ice Queen which led to a major Police investigation, the DPP added.

The jury will hear that Mr. Mallory went out for a night of socialising on July 20, 2001, Mr. Tokunbo said, eventually making his way to the Showtime Club in Dockyard.

Lemuel Weeks was also at the club that night, he said, until he became involved in a fight in the bathroom and was tossed out. Mr. Weeks continued fighting outside the club.

But the jury will hear that when Showtime closed, many people - including Mr. Weeks and the victim - proceeded to the Paget Ice Queen, the DPP said, where Mr. Weeks became involved in a fight with Brangman.

As the two struggled, Mr. Weeks fell into the bushes and thrust a glass juice bottle into Brangman's face, he said.

Weeks then escaped from the scene but not before receiving stab wound in his back.

"I expect you will hear that the deceased tried to intervene," Mr. Tokunbo told the jury. "Almost immediately, the second defendant (Bean) jumps in.

"Lemuel Weeks is gone now. Bean holds and restrains the deceased. While he is restrained the deceased is assaulted by Brangman, the deadly assault we referred to.

"Then Bean lets the deceased drop. When he drops onto the ground, these two defendants were seen to be kicking him on the ground, while his intestines are hanging out."

Bean and Brangman fled the scene - leaving Mr. Mallory collapsed in a pool of his own blood - before help was called for the 22-year-old victim, the DPP said.

Although ambulance personnel and emergency room staff at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital attempted to save the young man, he was pronounced dead at 5.35 a.m.

Dr. Obafunwa said he was called to the scene of the murder roughly a half an hour later.

He went to the Ice Queen parking lot and made sketches before proceeding to the hospital to conduct an autopsy on Mr. Mallory's body.

The pathologist described in detail for the jury more than a dozen external and internal injuries suffered by the victim, including a fatal stab wound which nearly completely severed a major artery - the left common iliac artery.

He said the death blow was made with a single-edged blade of at least 12 centimetres in length and not more than 3.5 centimetres wide.

The blow was made with such force that it dented the bone at the back of the victim's ribcage after passing through his abdomen and puncturing several loops of intestine, the pathologist said.

"I expect he would have collapsed within two to three minutes as a result of severe blood loss," Dr. Obafunwa said.

Mr. Mallory's stab wounds were concentrated around the abdomen and chest of the right side of his body, the pathologist added.

Based on the concentration and appearance of the wounds, the stabbing was most likely done by a right-handed individual who was facing the victim, he said.

Mr. Mallory's body also had abrasions on the forehead and back.

Mr. Tokunbo asked Dr. Obafunwa if these might have resulted from kicks received by the victim after his collapse or in the course of falling to the ground.

"That's possible," Dr. Obafunwa replied.

The pathologist also told the jury he received toxicology reports on the victim which showed alcohol "within a social range" and traces of cannabis in his system.

But Dr. Obafunwa said neither drug was present in an amount that would have incapacitated the victim.

Dr. Obafunwa is expected to continue giving evidence before Assistant Justice Archibald Warner when the trial continued this morning.

He will also face cross examination from defence lawyers brought in from overseas to defend the two accused men.

Brangman is represented by QC Peter Thornton and a team of lawyers, while QC Frank Phipps is acting for Bean with the assistance of Patrick Doherty.