Trial of three men accused of murder begins in Sheffield after young man suffered fatal stab wounds

A Sheffield Crown Court trial got under way today and jurors heard how Mentor Selmani, aged 28, of Matcham Road, London; Marsid Senia, 25, of Burnett Street, Bradford and Mardov Dushku, 30, of Shirecliffe Lane, Sheffield, have all pleaded not guilty to murdering Armend Xhika.

Prosecuting barrister Samuel Green KC claimed Mr Xhika died after being fatally stabbed following a confrontation on Earl Marshal Road, in Fir Vale, Sheffield, on May 13, 2021, when a group including the defendants had met another group, with Armend Xhika and three friends, who were also wounded.

Mr Green told the jury: “The prosecution case is that these defendants murdered Armend Xhika and wounded the other three men and intended to do them grievous bodily harm. And the prosecution submission is that once you have heard all the evidence you will feel sure that all three defendants are guilty of the charges that they face.”

He added that the two groups of Albanian males arranged to meet on Earl Marshal Road in the early evening with one group including the defendants – three of whom allegedly had weapons including knives - and the other group including the deceased and his friends.

Mr Green said that the meeting was arranged after Armend Xhika had been driving a Vauxhall Insignia that had been damaged in a road traffic collision with an Audi vehicle occupied by two Albanians earlier on the same day.

During the meeting a member of the defendants’ group punched Armend Xhika and violence immediately followed, according to Mr Green, with much of it captured on CCTV.

Mr Green said the defendants’ group chased Armend Xhika’s group and inflicted violence upon them and he claimed that CCTV footage suggests Armend Xhika was stabbed on several occasions.

He added that the prosecution cannot say who administered the fatal stab wound to Armend Xhika but he claimed that the defendants and two others in their group were jointly responsible for the murder.

Mr Green said: “The prosecution say each of the five suspects including these three defendants are responsible for his murder. That is because they decided to attend at the scene of what was a murder and inflicted very serious injuries.

“They met together immediately prior to the murder. Some of them carried knives and other weapons and they posted two members of the group to act as sentries.”

He also added that each of the accused allegedly remained committed to the violence after weapons had been used to inflict very serious injury.

Mr Green said Armend Xhika died as a result of being stabbed in the chest and three other members of Mr Xhika’s group were also assaulted and injured during the same incident.

He said: “All of this strongly suggests this was a planned meeting between two groups of men over some grievance or other – on the face of it arising from a road traffic collision and who was responsible for the damage to the respective vehicles involved.”

Mentor Selmani, Marsid Senia, and Mardov Dushku have all also pleaded not guilty to three counts of wounding with intent concerning three other men who had been with Armend Xhika including Durim Dervishanji, Mikael Kanachi and Fatson Dushku.

The trial continues.