Mircea Cozmiuc: Murder victim 'tried to protect himself' as he was stabbed over 20 times

Mircea Gheorghe Cozmiuc, aged 23, was stabbed more than 20 times in Carter Road, Whitmore Reans, where he had lived.

Micky Manning witnessed the attack from the living room of his girlfriend's home and gave a harrowing account of what he saw to a jury in the trial of Mr Cozmiuc's alleged murderer.

He said: "I remember seeing a white man walking down the street.

"About 10 seconds later, someone ran behind and started stabbing him.

"He had a knife with a silver blade and it was about six of seven inches.

"The person being stabbed was trying to protect himself and the person doing the stabbing was moving his arms to directly stab him.

Mr Manning, whose girlfriend's home was directly over the road from where Mr Cozmiuc was attacked, added the attacker was wearing a blue 'hoody' and a balaclava, hiding his identity.

Asked by Mr Kevin Hegarty QC, prosecuting, to describe the way the assailant was stabbing Mr Cozmiuc, Mr Manning replied 'viciously'.

He added: "He carried on stabbing him and after a minute or two he turned around as if to run towards The Winning Post pub.

"He then got into a car. I made myself unable to be seen. I heard the car go and I saw the licence plate."

Sivan Amin, 37, of Merridale Street West, is currently standing trial at Birmingham Crown Court having allegedly carried out the attack on his former housemate on September 3 last year.

The prosecution say Amin had become jealous of Mr Cozmiuc's close relationship with another man. He denies murder.

The jury also heard a statement from Mr Manning's girlfriend, Samantha Wilson, who moved upstairs during the attack.

She said: "I looked out of the window and saw the man who had been screaming on his back and not moving."

Forensic Pathologist Dr Alexander Kolar told the jury that Mr Cozmiuc, who worked at Amazon in Rugeley, had 46 external injuries of which 34 were 'sharp force' injuries.

The trial continues.