Boyfriend died after wound under chin

Jane Fligg told Leeds Crown Court yesterday she realised straightaway there was nothing she could do to help Mohammed Shabir Choudary.

"I used to be a nurse so I have seen many people die," she said.

The court heard she lived in a flat above Mr Choudary, 52, in Gill Syke Grove, Wakefield, and found him soon after seeing his nephew Zaheer Aziz drive away.

She said she was woken at about 3am by voices in the flat below and recognised them as Mr Choudary and his nephew, whom he treated as his own son, having helped to bring him up in Pakistan after his parents divorced.

She rang the flat because she was irritated at being disturbed and at one stage Aziz came on the phone. She heard him calling his uncle a liar. "He sounded very angry, distressed, saying 'you lied to me, you lied to me' like he was getting wound up."

She told the jury she heard Mr Choudary say: "I don't know what's got into him" before she put the phone down.

After that she heard the sound of shuffling and then Mr Choudary said, "Zaheer what are you doing" in a shocked tone and then "stop it, stop it".

She was concerned and looked out of her window to see Aziz getting into his uncle's Mercedes and starting to drive away.

A short time later, still feeling uneasy, she went down and discovered Mr Choudary collapsed and bleeding. He was breathing but it was "like his last breath."

Aziz, 44 of Trinity Street, Wakefield, denies murdering his uncle on January 18. The prosecution claim Aziz killed him less than a month after being released from prison on licence from an eight-year jail sentence for wounding and supplying drugs.

The trial continues.