'My best friend looked possessed, then he stabbed me', teenager tells court

A TEENAGER stabbed by his best friend told a jury his attacker looked like he was "possessed", just before he plunged the knife in.

Terry Bentley was rushed to hospital and treated for a punctured lung and a substantial loss of blood after he was stabbed by James Waterall, the court heard.

Waterall, 19, of Seymour Close, Ilkeston, denies wounding with intent to cause serious bodily harm. He admits stabbing Mr Bentley – but claims it was in self-defence.

Mr Bentley, 19, told Derby Crown Court yesterday he and Waterall had been drunk and were arguing but he could not recall why – or much of what had happened before the knife was plunged into his left shoulder.

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He said they had been standing, facing each other and arguing, when he had felt "a cold, sharp spike" in his left shoulder.

He said: "Just before I felt the spike, the look on his face – it wasn't James – the expression on his face, the light in his eyes. Like he was a different person.

"Like he came over possessed. Nothing but a blank – an empty look to the face."

Chudi Grant, defending, said Waterall had lashed out with the kitchen knife because he had "feared for his safety". He suggested Mr Bentley had been punching, kicking and stamping on Waterall.

Mr Bentley said he could not recall doing that. But he added: "James is the last person on the planet I have ever considered any aggression against."

Mr Bentley also said he would have "struggled to do any sort of damage to anyone" because of the drunken state he had been in. He told the jury he and Waterall had been best friends since they were 12 and had been "like brothers".

Prosecutor Julia King told the jury Mr Bentley, Waterall and their friend, Rosie Prestage, had been drinking in The Charter pub, in Ilkeston, before going to Miss Prestage's flat in Mill Lane, in the early hours of June 10. The court heard it was in the kitchen of the flat that Waterall stabbed Mr Bentley – inflicting a deep wound of about three centimetres and some superficial ones.

Mr Bentley was taken to the Queen's Medical Centre, in Nottingham. A scan revealed a collapsed lung, which had been punctured by the knife.

The court heard he needed a chest drain to get rid of blood, which had collected around the lungs. Miss King said: "He was given a massive blood transfusion."

The trial continues.