ONE of the defendants in the Ryan O'Connor murder trial said he stayed in the car with the alleged knifeman because he did not feel "safe" in Newport.

Elliott Fiteni blames co-accused Joseph Jeremy for the murder of Mr O'Connor in the Alway area of Newport on June 10 last year.

Fiteni and Jeremy, along with three other Cardiff men – Lewis Aquilina, Ethan Strickland, Elliott Fiteni, Kyle Raisis – are on trial. They all deny charges of murder, manslaughter and robbery.

After the alleged attack, Fiteni said he drove a short distance before stopping the group's car, when he swapped places with Aquilina, who was in the front passenger seat.

Jonathan Elystan Rees, representing Jeremy, asked Fiteni why he got back into the car after Jeremy allegedly said he had "yinged" (stabbed) someone.

"I didn't want to be on foot in Newport," he replies. "I didn't know it was murder."

Fiteni said he didn't want to be "blamed for something he [Jeremy] done".

Follow our live coverage of today's proceedings in the Ryan O'Connor murder trial in Newport.

"You told us you were disgusted by what he did," Mr Rees put to Fiteni, referring to Jeremy.

"He stabbed an innocent boy in the street – of course it's disgusting," Fiteni replied.

"I wanted to get back to Cardiff and somewhere where I felt safe."

Fiteni said he "would have driven home" if "the robbery hadn't taken place".

Mr Rees said a witness saw two people in the car laughing.

"The reason she thought somebody was laughing in the front is because she didn't see anybody in the back," Fiteni said. "I don't find it funny somebody was stabbed for no reason."

Mr Rees told Fiteni the witness was "focused on you" and Aquilina.

"I didn't get out of the car, no matter what you say," Fiteni said. "I know and everybody in that car knows who got out of the car and who killed Ryan O'Connor."

Mr Rees questioned comments Fiteni made to police about the alleged victim's bag.

"At interview, you thought it was Lewis [Aquilina] who said he'd got the Gucci bag," Mr Rees told Fiteni.

"I said I wasn't sure," the defendant replied.

"At interview you said you thought it was Lewis, but you didn't want to say you thought it was Lewis, so you said you thought it was [co-accused Joseph] Jeremy," Mr Rees said.

"Whenever you're not sure about something, are we to be cautious about you identifying Joseph Jeremy as doing something or saying something?

"Whenever you're not sure, you don't want to say it was Lewis."

Fiteni told the court that at interview, he was "told" by police "if you don't know, you don't know".

Asked by Mr Rees about comments he made to police about the bag, Fiteni said: "I shouldn't have guessed."

"You were protecting Lewis, then?" Mr Rees, who is representing Jeremy, asks.

"No," Fiteni says. "Your client murdered someone."

The trial before Mr Justice Saini continues.