An Ipswich charity worker stabbed a colleague in the stomach with a knife during a dispute over some missing money, it has been alleged.

Uldis Bokarts walked into Ivo Namnieks’ room at the house they shared in Ringham Road, Ipswich and told him “I didn’t take that money. Leave me alone”, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Mr Namnieks told Bokarts to leave the room and approached him to show him out, said Christopher Paxton, prosecuting.

“In a flash the defendant stabbed him once to the stomach. It happened so quickly he only saw the red handled knife after he had been stabbed,” said Mr Paxton.

Mr Namnieks suffered a single stab wound to the upper part of his stomach and was kept in hospital overnight for treatment and observation.

After his arrest Bokarts gave police a prepared statement in which he said he’d been acting in self-defence.

Bokarts, 37, of Ringham Road, Ipswich, has denied wounding Mr Namnieks with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm on May 24.

Mr Namnieks told the court he and Bokarts both worked for the Clothes Aid charity and shared a house with other workers in Ringham Road.

He said shortly before the alleged stabbing he asked his employer to transfer some money into Bokarts’ bank account as he didn’t have his own account.

Mr Namnieks asked Bokarts to leave the money on a table in the living room but had later discovered it was missing.

Mr Namnieks said he suspected Bokarts of taking the money and had confronted him about it.

Mr Paxton alleged that prior to the stabbing Bokarts had shown the knife to a visitor to the house and allegedly told him he was going to “get even” with Mr Namnieks, adding: “I will not leave it like that. I’ll kill him.”

The trial continues today.