Two men accused of murdering another by stabbing him through the heart in a Kent high street have gone on trial.

Mohammed Hgar and Kemal Ibrahim are alleged to have killed Samare Gerezgihir in a late-night attack in Canterbury on October 10 last year.

Mr Gerezgihir, 23, suffered “massive blood loss” and was pronounced dead at the scene in a courtyard by the Royal East Kent Yeomanry Memorial, next to the former Nasons department store.

Hgar, 32, and Ibrahim, 24, who deny murder, appeared at Canterbury Crown Court for the start of their trial yesterday.

The court heard Mr Gerezgihir had walked with his girlfriend Shannon Rossiter and acquaintances James Highwood and John Dickman from their tent encampment near Canterbury East train station towards the city centre.

Prosecutor Christopher May described how, as they moved through the courtyard at about 11.30pm, their paths crossed with the defendants, who are said to have thrown glass bottles towards their feet.

When a confrontation ensued moments later, Hgar and Ibrahim armed themselves with blades that had been concealed beneath a planter, Mr May alleged.

“The deceased was stabbed with a knife, which penetrated the heart and caused massive blood loss," he added.

“The crown says the two defendants were responsible for the killing of Samare Gerezgihir and that they are guilty of murder.

“The prosecution says the two of them were acting together, jointly and with a common intention.”

Mr Gerezgihir, who came to England from Eritrea in northeast Africa in 2014, collapsed and was pronounced dead shortly after 12.30am.

A number of 999 calls had been made while members of the public and then paramedics fought to save him.

The prosecutor told a jury that Hgar, of no fixed address, and Ibrahim, of Long Acre Close, Canterbury, had arrived by train at Canterbury West station at 10.30pm that evening.

They then walked through the High Street, arriving outside Nasons at 10.50pm.

Mr Gerezgihir’s group are said to have arrived 41 minutes later, before the confrontation ensued.

Giving evidence to police days after the alleged attack, Mr Highwood claimed Ibrahim unsuccessfully tried stabbing him during the incident, while Hgar dealt the deadly blow to Mr Gerezgihir.

“This case concerns the death of a young man who, the crown say, on the night of October 10 and 11 last year, was stabbed to the chest in a small courtyard just off Canterbury High Street," Mr May added.

“He received one penetrating stab wound to the chest, which penetrated into the heart and sadly resulted in his death at the scene.

“He was a young man aged 23, known to some of those who knew him as either Sammy or Jamyl.

“Mr Gerezgihir had been homeless, and sleeping and associating in Canterbury with others he knew, some of whom were living in tents; many of these people were heavy drinkers.”

After the alleged attack, the prosecutor said Miss Rossiter and Mr Highwood stayed at the scene until the emergency services arrived.

Mr Dickman, however, remained for a short period but walked away down St Margaret’s Street as police arrived.

Meanwhile, CCTV caught the defendants walking down the High Street together and turning off at Guildhall Street, where they spoke to a woman named Nina Roach.

“They didn’t go far down Guildhall Street, they walked back to the High Street, and continued in the same direction they had been going towards Stour Street," the prosecutor explained.

The pair then caught a taxi to an associate's flat in Herne Bay where they were arrested shortly after and two knives were recovered.

In a police interview, Mr Ibrahim stated he had placed the black-handled knife under a bed sheet, and had picked it up at the scene and “waved it around”.

A green-handled blade was also found wrapped in a towel.

The two men face charges of murder alongside the alternative count of manslaughter.

They are also charged with having a bladed article in Canterbury High Street, while Ibrahim also denies assaulting Mr Highwood by beating on the same occasion.

Mr May told jurors there is "no available" recorded footage of the alleged killing.

"Although there are cameras, the camera that would have been able to record the best imagery was more or less opposite, within the Nationwide building society, but that particular evening there was a transit van blocking the view," he explained.