Student died in £20 debt row

Police at the murder scene in Tudor Street

Newport Crown Court has heard that a student who took part in the opening ceremony of the Rugby World Cup was murdered because he owed a neighbour £20.

Ricardo Barbosa, 21, played drums in a Samba band which performed in the televised spectacular at the Millennium Stadium.

The jury was told Mr Barbosa was "short of money" after his 21st birthday celebrations and owed neighbour Derek Cook £20 for gas and electricity at his bedsit in Riverside, Cardiff.

Cook, 49, is accused of stabbing Mr Barbosa to death with a six-inch knife in a row over the debt last December.

Prosecutor Roger Thomas QC said Cook was highly frustrated and agitated by the non-payment of money.

Wound cut artery

The court was told that witnesses heard a scream and saw Mr Barbosa collapse at the bottom of the stairs.

Mr Thomas said: "Cook was standing on the stairs with his fists clenched and knees bent in a fighting stance.

"As he passed Mr Barbosa he said: 'You deserved that'. "

The court heard Mr Barbosa was stabbed six or seven times and one of the wounds penetrated his lung and sliced his pulmonary artery.

Mr Barbosa and Cook lived in rented bedsits above the Tasty Plaice chip shop in Tudor Street, Riverside.

Self-defence claim

Portuguese-born Mr Barbosa - described in court as a "gentle and sensitive young man" - was a student at the University of Glamorgan, Treforest.

Cook had moved to the flat above Mr Barbosa's after separating from his wife.

He was arrested the day after the incident and told police he had acted in self-defence.

Cook, of Carlyle Street, Splott, Cardiff, denies murder.

The case continues.