A MAN accused of repeatedly stabbing his housemate said he had no reason to attack him and the pair had previously got on well.

Mohammed Jama, 25, denies attempting to murder Carl Michael Ajib at the property they shared with Mr Ajib’s cousin, Abdiaziz Ahmed, in Brompton Street, Middlesbrough, on August 25 last year.

Jolyon Perks, prosecuting, said Mr Jama had attacked Mr Ajib after a row over household bills.

Mr Jama had allegedly become angry and lashed out at Mr Ajib, who then fled upstairs to the bedroom of Mr Ahmed, but was followed by Mr Jama, who was carrying a knife. Mr Jama is then said to have stabbed Mr Ajib three times in the chest.

However, Mr Jama insists he did not stab Mr Ajib, who he had shared a house with since June.

Giving evidence at his trial at Teesside Crown Court, Mr Jama said: “I have never done anything to them (Mr Ajib and Mr Ahmed), I see them as friends.”

Instead he said he went into the upstairs bedroom after hearing a loud scream, which woke him up.

When he entered the room, he said he was hit over the head with a wooden drawer, fell unconscious, and woke up to find himself in a locked room with police outside.

He said: “I remember someone hit me in the head. I got hit twice. I could remember someone kneeing me and biting me.”

The trial continues.