One of two 12-year-olds accused of a machete murder has told a jury he saw his co-defendant kill the victim during an attack lasting up to five minutes.

The youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said he was “nowhere near” as 19-year-old Shawn Seesahai was stabbed by his friend, whose identity is also protected by a court order.

The boys are alleged by the Crown to have murdered Mr Seesahai, who was stabbed through the heart and suffered a skull fracture, in a joint attack on Wolverhampton’s Stowlawn playing fields on the night of November 13 last year.

The pair both deny murder, blaming each other for stabbing Mr Seesahai, with one of them telling the court last week that he had not harmed the victim.

Giving evidence on Monday at Nottingham Crown Court, the second defendant also denied causing Mr Seesahai any injury.

He told jurors his friend had told Mr Seesahai and a friend of the deceased to “keep it stepping” before putting a machete in its sheath down behind a bench and adding, “get ready”.

Claiming to have been surprised that his friend had the machete, the second defendant added: “Shawn towered over him.

“He just kept saying, ‘move off the bench’.”

A teenage girl known to both defendants then picked up the machete, the boy said, and she passed it to the other youth.

Answering questions from Paul Lewis KC, defending, the boy said his friend was put in a headlock and had asked for help while trying to make sure Mr Seesahai could not grab the knife.

He told the court: “I pushed Shawn off (the first defendant). He (Shawn) grabbed on to me. We both fell to the floor.

“I fell on the concrete. Shawn fell on the grass.”

According to the boy’s account, the first defendant – who admits owning the machete – then ran after Mr Seesahai, who tripped when his shoe came off as he tried to flee.

Denying that he kicked, punched or stamped on the victim, the second defendant said he had seen his friend stab Mr Seesahai more than once.

“I was nowhere near him … I told him to leave it,” he said of the first defendant.

His friend had attacked Mr Seesahai for about five minutes and then had blood “all over his hands” and on the cuff of his fleece, the boy said.

The second defendant said he did not know how a “very small” spot of blood had got onto his right trainer.

Mr Lewis asked the boy: “Did you have the knife in your hand at any time when you were in the park?”

The youth answered: “No.”

Before his arrest the following day, the boy said, the co-defendant visited him at home and said they should blame the teenage girl – who was going to see the police – for what had happened.

The trial continues.