A MAN armed himself with a kitchen knife and returned to a Bradford house where he stabbed another man following an earlier argument, a murder trial jury was told.

Stanislav Misko was at the home of Patrik Demeter in Great Horton Road, drinking and socialising with others until the early hours, according to Graham Reeds QC, prosecuting.

He said it was the Crown's case that at some point Misko argued with one of the other visitors, Marek Benak.

Mr Reeds said the argument led Misko to leave the house, walk back to the flat where he was living at the time in Horton Grange Road, where he armed himself with a large kitchen knife and returned to the address in Great Horton Road.

Yesterday, the jury at Leeds Crown Court was told that his journey was recorded on various CCTV cameras and some appeared to show the black handled knife in the right back pocket of his jeans.

A security camera across the road from the house showed distant footage of a man arriving outside, looking through the front window of the property and smoking a cigarette before throwing the butt on the pavement and knocking on the door.

Mr Reeds told the jury that Mr Demeter answered the door and the man outside asked for Mr Benak and there was an argument before he appeared.

“When Marek Benak came from the kitchen to the front door the defendant stabbed him once with that knife he brought with him for that purpose,” he claimed.

“The wound was serious, it was very large and it quickly proved fatal. It was say the prosecution inflicted with an intention to kill and very quickly thereafter Marek Benak collapsed in the hallway of the house.”

He said the single stab wound to the left side of the abdomen was inflicted with severe force and according to the pathologist penetrated the abdominal cavity, injuring the stomach and bowel and cutting into the aorta and a vein.

“This resulted in immediate and severe blood loss and death soon afterwards.”

Misko, 47, denies the murder of Mr Benak on October 23 last year.

Mr Reeds said witnesses described the attacker being struck with a bouncer or child’s trampoline from the garden as others went to confront him after the stabbing.

Mr Demeter ran away from the scene with Silvia Ferencova and their child in a push chair. As they did so, the attacker also left still holding the knife.

Mr Reeds told the jury that among the witnesses was Mohammad Hussain who saw a man walking away carrying a knife and later identified him as Misko.

The prosecution also would say a discarded cigarette butt from outside the property was examined and cellular material on it matched the DNA profile of Misko.

He was arrested on October 26 at a different flat in Bradford and through a Slovakian interpreter said: “I was there at the time. I saw what happened.”

He told police in interview he was at the house in Great Horton Road with four or five other people when a fight broke out. He said someone’s nose was bleeding before he left and went to his own flat.

He declined to comment when police put to him CCTV suggested to show him in possession of a knife.

Mr Reeds told the jury the prosecution did not accept Misko’s account of a fight. “It is completely different to what was seen by witnesses and what can be seen on CCTV.

“We say it is an attempt by him to explain Marek Benak’s blood which he realised was likely to be on his clothing.”

Martin Garrett told the jury he was passing the house in the early hours and saw Mr Benak through the window on a karaoke inside. They were both alcoholics and would drink together and as he had not seen him for a time he knocked to go in and see him.

He was let into the property and sat with him and others inside, including a man he described as looking “miserable.”

He said there was some tension in the air and there was an argument between Mr Benak and the miserable man but as they were talking in Slovakian he did not know what about.

He said that man left but later returned and he heard an argument at the door. Mr Benak initially went into the kitchen as though to hide but then he went to the door.

Mr Garrett said he did not see him stabbed but realised what had happened and saw Mr Demeter, whom he knew as Mikey, leave with his partner and child. He said he was surprised they were not getting help for Mr Benak.

He denied under cross-examination by Rupert Bowers QC for Misko that there was another man in the flat with them and that there had been a physical fight before the miserable man left. “There was no fighting,” he said.

The trial continues.