A GROUP of teenage friends have told a jury how a stabbed man staggered dying into the street near them, followed by a woman holding a knife.

Martin Kelly, 17, claimed that Caroline Mawhood, 21, was shouting abuse at Simon Gilchrist, 23, as she came down the steps from their upper-floor flat in Bell Farm Avenue, York, shortly before midnight on July 26 last year.

"I reckon if none of us were outside then, she could probably have done it again," he alleged. But others with Martin heard different words, Leeds Crown Court was told.

Bryan Clements, 16, heard her say "What have I done?" Kelly MacArthur, 16, heard "Have I killed him?" and "Gilly, are you all right?" while Rebecca Thomas, 17, heard "I had had enough of him," and "I have just had enough".

Martin agreed with defence barrister Rodney Jameson, QC, that he had not mentioned the insults in the two police statements he made. He added that he had smoked cannabis that evening.

Mawhood, of Bell Farm Avenue, denies murder.

Mr Gilchrist died shortly after midnight that night.

The jury heard that the teenagers had spent the evening hanging around in the neighbourhood. Shortly before midnight they arrived outside Bryan's home above Mawhood's flat.

Bryan alleged that as he and Rebecca approached, Mawhood and Mr Gilchrist were kissing and cuddling at their street door, but Rebecca claimed the couple were having a short argument.

The couple went upstairs. Minutes later, possibly after a noise described as a bang, or a shout, Mr Gilchrist came downstairs clutching his chest where there was a big patch of blood. Between them, the teenagers' accounts described how he accused Mawhood of stabbing him before staggering off to a nearby phone box. As he phoned 999, he doubled up and crouched before collapsing.

Mawhood staggered downstairs, either holding the knife above her head or at shoulder height in a clenched fist or supporting herself on the staircase walls. She was crying and screaming.

After sitting on the stairs and putting the knife down, she had gone to the phone box and cried: "Don't leave me, I love you" and "I am sorry" or "I didn't mean it". Rebecca described her lying down next to Mr Gilchrist. Kelly MacArthur described him shaking as in a fit and coughing when Mawhood shook him.

The trial continues.

Updated: 15:26 Thursday, January 13, 2005