FISE AMES MURDER TRIAL: Stab victim died after knife blow severed major vein, jury told

Home Office Pathologist Sam Hoggard examined the body of Faisal Ames Abdou, 25, who died as a result of blood loss from stab wounds after three killers came to his home, in South Shields, as he watched television, it is claimed.

Shaun Riches, Michael Raine and Scott Mitchell all deny Mr Abdou's murder and are being tried by a jury at Newcastle Crown Court.

Dr Hoggard has told jurors he performed a post mortem on Mr Abdou, who had blunt force injuries to his face and neck that could have been caused bypunches, as well as the stab wounds.

Mr Abdou also had knife wounds to his hand and heel, which the doctor said could have been "defensive injuries".

But it was a fatal wound, just below his right knee, that cut a major vein, called the popliteal vein, in half.

The doctor told jurors: "It had transected, or cut in half, the popliteal vein, below the right knee. That in itself is a potentially fatal injury on its own."

Dr Hoggard said the injury would have caused persistent heavy bleeding and added: "It would have led to cardiac arrest and death."

The doctor said the other stab wounds would have contributed to the death but Mr Abdou would have been more likely to have survived were it not for the damage to the vein.

He added: "They would have damaged smaller blood vessels, the would have caused some bleeding, which would have contributed to the bleeding from the other wound."

Dr Hoggard said it was not possible to say how many knives were used in the attack, in Marshall Wallis Road, and added: "The wounds could have been caused by one knife but could equally have been caused by more than one knife, I can't say for certain which it was."

Prosecutor Mr Fitzgibbon earlier told jurors the three accused men and their victim lived in a "dark and dangerous world", "a world where violence was common place" and were drug users.

Riches, 24, of Wycliffe Avenue, Newcastle, Raine, 35, of Grace House, Percy Main, and Mitchell, 25, of no fixed abode, all deny murder.

The trial continues.