A sports and science student told a murder trial jury his co-accused “flipped out” when he smashed a bottle over a young woman’s head and ordered him to help shut her up.

Jwanru Osman, 21, said he thought he was going into a Bradford house for a cup of tea before his journey back to London. He said he asked Reaben Kareem: “What are you doing, man?” when he hit Sally Ho with a bottle, causing her head to bleed.

Osman, of Northolt, Middlesex, said Kareem handed him a wheel brace in the cellar sitting room and told him: “They have been evil to my girlfriend.”

Osman, who was studying to become a physiotherapist, said he had known Kareem, a fellow Kurd, for about five years.

He travelled to Bradford for a night in Leeds and then went to the house in Grantham Road, Great Horton, because Kareem said someone there owed him money.

Osman told the jury at Bradford Crown Court yesterday he held Miss Ho from behind and told her to be quiet because Kareem had a knife and was angry.

“Reaben had flipped out,” Osman said.“I was thinking ‘This guy’s lost his mind’.”

Osman said Kareem ordered him to tie Miss Ho up in the boiler room and he obeyed, using strips of mattress protector.

Osman and Kareem deny murdering Miss Ho’s brother, international rugby player Tony Ho, 19, on January 22 last year.

Kareem, of Coal Pool, Walsall, West Midlands, pleads guilty to wounding Miss Ho and her boyfriend Gavin Stolarczyk with intent to cause them grievous bodily harm and conspiracy to rob. Osman denies all the charges.

Miss Ho found her brother’s body on a blood-soaked bed after Osman and Kareem had left the house. His throat was slashed, he had been stabbed 13 times and his bank account plundered.

The defendants blame one another for killing Mr Ho, a chemistry and forensic science student.

Mr Stolarczyk, 30, a law student, was stabbed in the side and tied up.

The trial continues.