A TEENAGER was stabbed to death in a street brawl sparked by a row over an £8 debt, a court heard.

Sean Whyte, 17, was stabbed to death with a 20cm kitchen knife and his aunt Agnes Rennie was wounded with a pair of scissors, the court was told.

Hasan Mumtaz, 18, is accused of murder and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. He and his brother Wasim, 21, are also accused of violent disorder. Both plead not guilty.

Wasim Mumtaz, who lived with his brother on North Street, Colne, had a row with Michael Stuart outside the Whyte family home, also in North Street, on September 29 last year, about £8 Mr Stuart had borrowed the previous day, Preston Crown Court was told.

Anthony Gee QC, prosecuting, told the court their argument escalated into a brawl involving about a dozen people on a night when "violence erupted on what was otherwise a sleepy, terraced street".

He said a party had been held at the Whyte home and that a guest called Hugh O'Neil had left between 9.30pm and 10pm with Michael Stuart. He continued: "They met Wasim and they had an argument which seems to have been about £8 owed by Michael Stuart to Wasim, borrowed the day before. They had a fight and Mr Stuart ran off into number nine to tell the occupants what had happened.

"Some came out and witnesses describe a group of 10 to 12 Asian males who had come out of 31 North Street. An argument over a loan of £8 escalated into a fight and escalated still further into appalling violence."

Mr Gee went on to say Hasan Mumtaz had armed himself with a knife and pair of scissors. He said the scissors had been used to inflict three wounds on Mrs Rennie's head, shoulder and upper arm which required 20 stitches.

He also said Wasim and Sean had been fighting separately from the group and Hasan had run up to Sean and stabbed him in the chest, creating a wound about 18cm deep which pierced his heart and other organs. Sean was taken to hospital but died.

Mr Gee said plainclothes police officers attended the scene, had seen Hasan with a knife and followed him to his home. They arrested him after finding a pair of scissors pushed behind a chair. The bloodstained knife was later recovered in the garden of another home in North Street.

(Proceeding)