'Carnival killer sneered as his victim lay dying'

A man stabbed to death a partygoer at the Notting Hill Carnival then sneered "so what?" at the dying man's girlfriend, the Old Bailey heard today.

Sean Cephinis "slowly and deliberately" knifed 21-yearold Greg Watson to death following a trivial argument on the last night of the carnival last year, it is claimed.

Cephinis had been pestering a girl to give him her phone number when Mr Watson intervened.

Cephinis told the girl to "wait here a moment," and "acting without hesitation or qualm" took a kitchen knife out of his jeans and stabbed Mr Watson in the side, to the right of the abdomen.

Mark Dennis, prosecuting, told how Mr Watson, a father of one from Northolt, and a group of friends had spent the afternoon watching the carnival procession and dancing.

Mr Dennis said: "Greg, his girlfriend Lisa and friends had been peacefully enjoying the carnival procession and were about to go home. A young man began pestering one of the girls in Greg's party. Greg intervened - it was to defuse the situation." A slight altercation ensued before Cephinis, who had also been pestering a girl, got involved.

Mr Dennis continued: "He pulled out the knife and without any compassion delivered a forcible and violent wound to Greg's stomach area - it was a truly gratuitous and senseless act of violence."

The court heard that Mr Watson and his girlfriend Lisa were joined by two other girls, his sister Jade and her friend Natalie.

At 10pm the party were walking along Kensal Road when they came upon a group of youths. Minutes earlier two youths had been pestering two girls for their numbers.

Mr Dennis said: "It would seem that the first male, having taken no for an answer, spotted Greg with his group, or more particularly the three young girls. He approached Jade, grabbing her by the arms." Mr Watson intervened telling the man to "leave it". Mr Dennis said another one of the group joined in shouting at Mr Watson "go and get your boys, go and get your boys".

Mr Dennis added: "As the argument continued Cephinis approached Greg and asked 'what's going on?' and slowly and deliberately took the knife out of his jeans pocket.

"He took hold of Greg Watson's left hand and with the right stabbed him in the side before withdrawing the knife. Lisa shouted 'you've knifed him', and he said 'so what?'"

The stabbing was caught on CCTV cameras by police. As the film of the incident was played in court Mr Watson's parents wept .

However the CCTV footage showed only the back and part of the left side of the attacker's head, and not his full face, the court heard.

Cephinis was arrested by police at his sister's house where he was found hiding inside a wardrobe, the court heard. He pleads not guilty to murder.

The case continues.