Jermaine (Red) Pitcher was chased and trapped by his attackers, whilst trying to flee for his life, a Supreme Court jury heard yesterday.

Mr. Pitcher's friend and eyewitness to the melee, Kenneth O'Connor, testified about the events surrounding the death by stabbing of Mr. Pitcher on February 27, 2000.

Several other witnesses also testified they saw Mr. Pitcher being "held up", while being repeatedly stabbed.

Jamal (Chicke) Robinson, 28, and Keniel Ingham, 24, deny the manslaughter of Pitcher outside Champions nightclub on Reid Street.

On the fifth day of trial, Assistant Justice Archibald Warner and the eight woman, four man jury and saw no less than eight witnesses take the stand, in an effort to complete the trial before an October 12 deadline.

It is understood that one of the jurors is leaving the Island on that date.

Mr. O'Connor said that he, Mr. Pitcher and some other friends were "drinking and having a good time" at Champions that night.

Eventually they were ready to leave and they went downstairs to get their cars.

"While we were standing next to the entrance, some guys came up and started saying stuff to him," Mr. O'Connor said.

"Then they started throwing punches at Jermaine. Red was in front of the three guys swinging a weapon and the guy in front of him had a knife - the guy was swiping at Jermaine with a knife. It looked like he was outnumbered, that's when he started to run away from the three men and the guy with the knife was running after him. Jermaine was trying to reach his van, but the other two guys deflected him away from the van.

"They ran around him - the two other guys stopped him. They gripped Jermaine - they set a trap. All he could do was defend himself and put his hands to his face. The other guy just chopped him. I guess they saw they did enough damage to Jermaine so they let him go. Jermaine just told us to get him to the hospital."

Mr. O'Connor said he did not know who the men were and that he could only identify them by the clothes they were wearing.

The court also heard testimony from Eric Wallace, bouncer of the club, who said he saw Ryan (Tiger) Ball, Ingham and Robinson holding on to Mr. Pitcher.

He said Ball was "stabbing him in a frantic motion".

"Two guys jumped and grabbed "Two guys jumped and grabbed Red," he said. "Tiger came down in a chopping motion with a knife. Then Tiger began stabbing in a frantic motion while the other two men were still holding him. The stabbing was frantic, wild and ruthless.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he stabbed one of his friends, who was holding Jermaine, because they were that close. He was just jamming it in."

Ball pleaded guilty to manslaughter earlier this year and was jailed for ten years.

In cross examination, Victoria Pearman, representing Robinson and Venus Telford, representing Ingham, suggested that certain events in the club prior to the fight, had put Mr. Pitcher in an "agitated mood".

And they suggested that he may have been looking for a fight. There had been testimony from witnesses that was an altercation with Mr. Pitcher and Mr. Wallace about alleged smoking of marijuana, that caused the lights in the club to come on.

But in testimony, Mr. Wallace said he remembered an incident that was settled quickly, but it did not involve Mr. Pitcher.

The case continues today before Mr. Archibald Justice Warner, with the Crown, represented by Graveney Bannister and Dorien Taylor calling its final four witnesses.