THE man accused of murdering teenager Dele Little told a court how one of the teenager's friends could have inflicted the fatal knife injury.

Aaron Roche told Winchester Crown Court: "I'm not entirely sure that I did cause that fatal wound to Dele." He then suggested that it could have been one of Dele's friends trying to get him and they made "a fatal mistake".

The statement was rubbished by prosecutor Christopher Parker QC during cross examination, who told Roche he was "clutching at straws".

He added that Dele Little did not know Roche was carrying a knife on the night he was stabbed "until the very end".

Roche had spent the day in the witness box at Winchester Crown Court where he told jurors his version of events about the circumstances before Dele was stabbed once through the heart.

Dressed in a shirt, tie and dark suit, Roche told jurors how he ran to an area known as the 'bullring' at the West Totton Centre after hearing in a phone call that his girlfriend Kayleigh Shinn had been attacked by a boy.

The court was told how he had gone to look for the person responsible, which later turned out to be Dele Little, but had turned away after being warned it was in his best interests to go home.

Moments later the couple heard a shout and as they turned round Roche saw Dele coming towards him followed by a small group of boys.

Roche said: "He was standing with his hands by his sides with clenched fists, basically saying 'come on then'.

"I didn't know what to do. I was panicking and I didn't want to get into a fight at all. He didn't say anything, he just punched me on the left-hand side of my face. It was a full-on punch.

"It was hard enough to make me turn my head and I sort of went down at an angle slightly."

Recalling how he had blows rained down on him, Roche told the court: "I was still on my feet. My head moved about half a foot down to my right."

Asked by defence barrister Tim Mousley QC if he had ever said he was going to kill Dele, Roche replied: "At some point I might have mentioned it to Kayleigh but I wouldn't have meant anything by it . . . just something you say in the heat of the moment."

Talking about the punches, Roche added: "There were quite a few, all around my face. One hit my jawline. It was pretty much all over my face."

Roche told jurors his left eye had split open and was bleeding.

He was punched about five times and even then "the violence didn't stop".

He said: "The next thing I can remember I had a headbutt on my forehead, he grabbed hold of my shoulders and pulled my hoody over my face."

Roche said his hands were not free to punch, adding: "I may have tried to push him away a few times but that was about it."

Asked by Mr Mousley how he thought it was going to end, Roche said: "At least with me being in hospital with quite serious injuries."

Talking about how Dele continued to attack him, Roche said: "As Dele had grabbed my shoulders and pulled my hoody over, someone had come to the side of me and was also starting to attack me.

"I could see his legs. The person standing to my right-hand side started kneeing me in the stomach.

"It was repeated I can't remember how many times.

"As he was doing that, Dele managed to get my head down low enough and just kneed me in the mouth.

"That split my lips open and my two front teeth were pushed back into my mouth.

"I knew I was badly injured, that was kind of obvious, and I was in a lot of pain. I was quite out of breath.

"I pretty much thought I was going to end up dead."

Roche told how he was swung around into a car and his head was smacked against the vehicle a number of times.

He could barely see because of the injuries to his eyes, he told the court.

Roche said he ended up on the floor where he was curled up in a ball with his hands covering his head and was being attacked by "at least three people" who were punching and kicking him.

He told the court: "I thought I was going to die at that point, definitely.

"I didn't think they were going to stop at all."

Roche said nobody offered to help him or tried to break up the fight.

Describing his injuries Roche said: "There was bleeding in my mouth. My teeth were facing backwards. I couldn't say anything."

Roche told the court he remembered his knife was in his back pocket when he was on the floor and being kicked in the bottom.

He said: "I tried to get it out.

"I was getting punched around the back of the head.

"At that point there was still three people close to me at least.

"I thought the only way I could get out of this was to pull out the knife.

"I remember trying to get it open with one hand but because I was shaking a lot and just panicking I couldn't open the knife as I would normally open it. I had to use both hands."

Roche showed jurors how he opened his butterfly knife to reveal the blade and was holding it with his elbow bent at 45 degrees. Describing what happened next, he said: "I think Dele was behind me.

"The idea was to sort of push them away and show the knife."

Telling the court how he held his left arm out and the knife in his right hand, he said: "As I turned round my left arm hadn't made contact with anyone.

"Someone grabbed me by the back of my neck and spun me round.

"My natural reaction was to put my arms up to stop me from falling over and I've dropped the knife and watched it fall from my hands."

Asked by Mr Mousley if he deliberately stabbed Dele Little, Roche replied: "No. I was just aiming to pull the knife out to warn him off so the attack on me would stop.

"They were quite happy to keep doing it until I stopped moving."

Roche told how he ended up being thrown between two cars where he continued to receive kicks and stamps to the back of his head and body before managing to get up and run off.

He said he was aware he was being chased, and of someone shouting "I'll kill you".

Asked by Mr Mousley had he always told police the truth, Roche said "yes" and added: "I didn't at any stage intend to stab anyone."

Asked what he was hoping to achieve by producing the butterfly knife from his back pocket, Roche said: "To sort of threaten them, to get them to back off and leave me alone. I'd had enough."

During cross examination Mr Parker said that on three occasions Roche had been heard by different witnesses saying he was going to "stab" Dele.

He also suggested that Roche had been feeling "brave" because he knew he had a weapon and was embarrassed at the thought of backing down in front of his girlfriend.

Asking Roche why he didn't shout a warning that he was carrying a knife, Roche said he couldn't speak because his mouth was full of blood.

He told the court: "If I had any intention of causing harm I'm sure I would have had it (the knife) out, ready to go, before the fight even started."

Roche, formerly of Ringwood Road, Lyndhurst, denies murder.

Proceeding.