The step-sister of Ipswich teenager Tavis Spencer-Aitkens held his hand as he struggled to breathe following a knife attack near his father’s home, a court heard.

In a statement read to a jury at Ipswich Crown Court Candice Sobers described running out of her home in Packard Avenue after being told by her mother that Tavis had been stabbed.

Once outside she saw Tavis on the ground by a tree and could see blood on his face and clothing and noticed he was wearing only one trainer.

Ms Sobers asked Tavis: “What happened?” and “Who did it?” to which he replied “J-Block, man”, which she took to be a reference to the street name of a group of men from the Jubilee Park area of the town.

She noticed a deep cut to his throat, and when she lifted up his shirt she saw a number of injuries to his back.

Her mother came out with some towels and Ms Sobers used them to apply pressure to her step-brother’s wounds.

In her statement Ms Sobers described how she kept talking to Tavis and when he said he couldn’t breathe she reassured him and breathed in and out to try and calm him.

Ms Sobers said she noticed the back of Tavis’ white T-shirt was soaked with blood and she helped him drink sips of water from a glass.

At one stage she asked Tavis: “Who was there?” and he replied: “There were too many of them.”

She described how more towels were brought over to help stem the bleeding but it was “an impossible task”.

Ms Sobers described Tavis begging her not to let go of his hand and asking her to go to the hospital with him.

She said she was still holding Tavis’ hand when an ambulance arrived and she then noticed his breathing was getting worse and that he was drifting in and out of consciousness.

Ms Sobers, who was covered in Tavis’ blood, went to the hospital after having a shower and found out that he had died.

Before the court are Aristote Yenge, 23, of Spring Road, Ipswich, Adebayo Amusa, 20, of Sovereign Road, Barking, Callum Plaats, 23, of Ipswich, Isaac Calver, 19, of Firmin Close, Ipswich, a 16-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons and Leon Glasgow, 42, of no fixed address.

They all deny murdering Tavis, of Pownall Road, Ipswich, who died after he was stabbed 15 times in Packard Avenue, Ipswich.

Oliver Glasgow QC, prosecuting, has alleged that Tavis was “butchered” to death during “heated rivalry” between two rival groups from different parts of the town.

He claimed the attack on Tavis was the result of what the “J-Block” group, which took its name from Jubilee Park area where they lived and the “Neno” group who came from the Nacton area of Ipswich and the IP3 postcode, perceived to be a loss of respect following a row between two of their friends and two of Tavis’ friends in Lush earlier on June 2.

Mr Glasgow told the court the fact that members of “Neno” had confronted the “J-Block” members so close to their home turf and the fact that the “J-Block” members had run and hidden rather than stood their ground gave the moral victory to Neno.

“That group had travelled to the area where Tavis lived seeking revenge for what they perceived to be a loss of respect,” said Mr Glasgow.

“It is the Crown’s case that, no matter what may have been said or done by Tavis’ friends during the incident in Ipswich town centre that Saturday afternoon, there is nothing that any of these in defendants can say to excuse the murderous attack upon him a few hours later,” he said.

The trial, which is expected to finish in February, continues.