Court hears how a prisoner didn't feel safe - a day before he was killed
Mahir Abdulrahman was found unresponsive in his cell at HMP Fosse Way in Leicestershire in August last year
A prisoner who had been "bullied" by other inmates had asked to move cells because he did not feel safe the day before he was killed, a court has heard.
Mahir Abdulrahman, also known as Mahir Mohamed, was found unresponsive in his cell at HMP Fosse Way in Leicestershire at 7.53am on August 20 last year, around half an hour after two other inmates were seen on CCTV entering the room while another held the cell door closed.
Shaan Karim, 38, Thierry Robinson, 21, and Ashirie Smith, 18, are on trial at Leicester Crown Court accused of the 31-year-old Sudanese national's murder.
All three appeared in the dock together on Monday as the trial began, sitting apart and separated by prison officers.
Prosecution counsel Michael Burrows KC said Karim "kept watch" outside the cell, holding the door and knocking on it when a prison officer was near, while Robinson and Smith were inside attacking Mr Abdulrahman, stamping on and kicking his head and neck and causing a fatal bleed at the base of his brain.
All three deny intending to kill Mr Abdulrahman, but Mr Burrows said it was clear the trio "each shared the intention" to at least seriously injure him.
Mr Burrows said Smith and Robinson accepted they entered Mr Abdulrahman's cell, but claimed they only wanted to speak to him about an incident the day before in which he had thrown water from a kettle on them.
He said Smith will allege he acted in self-defence in response to punches thrown by Mr Abdulrahman, while Robinson will say he may have thrown some punches in self-defence, but intervened to pull Smith away from the victim.
The court was told that in a phone conversation with his mother, Karim said Robinson and Smith had "gone in on" Mr Abdulrahman and that he "could have done something" to stop them but did not.
He told her that Mr Abdulrahman's 35-week prison sentence for a sexual offence had led to other inmates "terrorising him for days", the court heard.
Mr Burrows said Mr Abdulrahman had asked a prison officer the day before he died if he could move cells because he did not feel safe.
In the half an hour after the attack, Mr Burrows said, all three defendants returned at different points to look into Mr Abdulrahman's cell and on two occasions, other inmates threw water at him to see if it would "jolt him back to life".
Another inmate told a prison officer she should check on Mr Abdulrahman, and she found him slumped in the cell, and although attempts were made to resuscitate him by prison staff and paramedics, he was pronounced dead at 8.44am.
The trial was told Mr Abdulrahman previously had tuberculosis which had weakened the bones in his neck.
A post-mortem examination found multiple abrasions and bruising to Mr Abdulrahman's head and neck that were consistent with an assault and fractures to the ribs at the back of his body which would have required force "at the severe end of the scale", Mr Burrows told the jury.
"If you're going to get the guy back, throw one or two punches and walk away, don't go in on him, don't stamp on him.
The jury was told that on November 25, after Smith had been moved to a different prison following the attack, he had "let slip" in anger what he is alleged to have done, telling a prison officer: "I'm in for murder, I have already dropped one body and I will take another."
The trial continues.