THE trial of the man accused of murder in Redditch town centre last year is reaching its climax.

Omar Mohammed is charged with stabbing to death Liam Gall, 18.

Judge Michael Mott has sent out the jury to deliberate its verdict.

He told the jury members that if they thought Mohammed's account of events might be true, they should acquit.

But he left them the option of manslaughter if they decided Mohammed used the knife and lost his cool under sufficient provocation.

Before summing up, Judge Mott said: "A young man lost his life and lost it over something essentially trivial.

"It just illustrates the terrible consequences that can happen when young men carry knives in the street."

In their closing arguments, Stephen Coward QC, prosecuting, argued Mohammed took the knife to a meeting with Gall and stabbed him before lying to police about his route from the scene and disposing of the murder weapon.

The knife has never been found, despite an extensive police search of drains, wheelie bins, open areas, roofs and a balcony around Royal Square, as well as Mohammed's home and a builder's skip nearby.

William Davis, defending, said Mohammed had been consistent all along with details of his route but police had listened instead to has stepbrother and consequently missed part of his journey.

Mr Davis said Gall had taken the knife to the meeting and had been killed in the course of a struggle.

Yesterday, 19-year-old Mohammed, of Lodge Road, Redditch, took the stand and told how a drug deal went wrong on the day of Gall's death.

Mohammed described being attacked by Gall in an alleyway off Market Place on Wednesday, September 20.

"I opened my eyes and I saw the knife," said Mohammed.

"It was in his right hand just above waist level. I didn't see where the knife had come from.

"I pushed into his hand with my left hand to keep the knife away from me.

"We were struggling for five or six seconds. He was pushing against me and then he stopped and made a groaning, moaning noise."

Mohammed admitted he was trying to set up a drug deal for Gall and his two friends.

Home Office pathologist Peter Acland said Gall had been stabbed through the mid-upper left arm and in the abdomen.

He said the abdominal wound was caused by two rapid thrusts, the first of which punctured the stomach and pierced other internal organs.

The second sliced two arteries, a muscle and scored the spinal column.

When asked by Mr Coward about the likelihood of Gall suffering the arm injury while wielding the knife, Dr Acland said: ''It's a possibility but I would think it's difficult to envisage.''

Forensic scientist Roy Coates said blood stains found in Mohammed's jeans could have come from contact with a blood-soaked hand or knife but admitted a stain in Mohammed's pocket was a small amount.

Mr Davis said the trace was unlikely to have come from a knife given the nature of the wounds.

Sgt Graham Mitchell, of Redditch police, told the jury of Mohammed's version of events after Gall was stabbed.

He said Mohammed told him: "I got a call on my mobile from someone I didn't know who said they wanted me to go up to the town and some guys I don't know asked me for some draw, but I don't do it any more and started to walk away.

"One of them followed me and punched me five times to the side of my head and the guy pulled a knife.

"I grabbed it and we tussled."

Sgt Mitchell cautioned Mohammed and later arrested him after hearing of Gall's death.

First Midland Red West driver Mark Green described the scene as he arrived.

Passer-by Mr Green said: "There was a black lad leaning over a white lad on the floor shouting 'My mate's just been knifed' and there was another lad hysterical on the phone shouting 'My mate's been stabbed. His guts are on the floor. I want an ambulance now'."

A key witness broke down in tears as he gave an eye-witness account of his friend's death.

Sean Collier, 17, said: "Omar reached for a knife, grabbed his left arm and tried to push him away.

"As he drew the knife into Liam, Liam nutted him and I heard the sigh of the knife going into him.

"I turned round and saw Liam slowing down behind us."

Collier told the court: "I seen his intestines hanging out.

"Liam lost the feelings in his legs and fell, banging his head on the kerb and losing consciousness."

Collier admitted lying in his initial statement to police.

"We left out that Omar had stabbed Liam 'cause I was confused and thought something bad would happen to him when he came out of hospital.

"I didn't want to be known as a grass," he told the jury.

The court heard Mohammed fled the scene and told his stepbrother he had been attacked but made no mention of the knife.

He was later singled out at Redditch Police Station by one of Gall's companions and only then claimed Gall had pulled the knife on him.

"He had the knife. I had to grab it. It was him or me. What was I supposed to do?" Mohammed told police.

The defendant, who said he was preparing to MC at Odyssey Night Club on the night of the stabbing, denied drawing a knife on two of Gall's friends two days earlier after a dispute over stolen goods.

The trial continues.