ARMED brawls took place inside and outside a flat where a man was killed, a court heard.

Father-of-one Michael Haastrup, 24, from Southend, died after being stabbed in a flat in Cressing Road, Braintree, on April 16 last year.

Luke Eva, 24, of Avondale Drive, Leigh, denies murder, but admits possessing an offensive weapon.

It is alleged they were rival drug dealers and a fight broke out inside, when it is claimed he was stabbed, leading to another outside.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard yesterday from a girl who went to the flat after hearing a commotion and saw blood on the door.

She said the victim told the defendant: “I will kill you because you stabbed me” and then “offered him out”.

She told the court the victim went outside armed with something and the defendant followed with a rope and half a broken walking stick, before they carried out an armed battle in the street.

At this point, she said the victim was already “really pale and was sweating quite a lot”.

A few minutes later he was leaning against a bus stop.

She said: “He looked really bad and his eyes were mostly shut.”

Mr Haastrup was later taken to Broomfield Hospital with stab wounds to the heart and left thigh.

He died the following morning.

The victim lived with his girlfriend, Elizabeth Wade, and their three-month-old baby in Southend before moving to Waltham Abbey. The court also heard from Colin Cornelius, the owner of the flat where the rows started.

He told the court Mr Haastrup and Mr McGowan visited to ask him to sell their cocaine and heroin.

He said he told them no and did not know why they asked him.

Mr Cornelius, who is also friends with the defendant, said when they were all at the flat things were “hunky dory”

for about 15 minutes before a scuffle broke out while he was in another room.

The trial continues.