http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/4341940.stm


Man denies housemate murder
A Portuguese man charged with murdering a Polish worker at the house they
shared has told a court he was defending himself.
Danilo Furtado, 45, stabbed Zbigniew Okon, 25, in a house at Llangefni,
Anglesey, in February this year.

It followed an argument between Mr Furtado and other workers over the
playing of a Polish folk music CD.

Mr Furtado denies murder at Mold Crown Court and said he was frightened
after the other men had attacked him.



Ms Okon, who worked at Welsh Country Foods on Anglesey, died after being
stabbed at 2230 GMT on 12 February this year following an argument prompted
by the playing of a Polish folk music CD.

Mr Okon and three other men were playing the music, allegedly loudly, when
Mr Furtado, who is from Portugal, objected.

Insults were exchanged and a fight broke out between Mr Furtado and another
man, Valdas Miniotas.

The prosecution has alleged that Mr Furtado went to his own room and
returned to the living room of the shared house with knives which were used
to cut meat in his workplace.

The prosecution claimed that an enraged Mr Furtado who had a "short fuse"
plunged a butcher's knife into Mr Okon's chest at the doorway of the room.


But Mr Furtado denied he had run downstairs with a knife and stabbed Mr Okon
at the door of the lounge.

He told the court the four men followed him upstairs and he grabbed a knife
that was on the bed.

Asked by his barrister, Gerard Elias QC, what he had done, he said: "I used
the knife".

Mr Furtado said he did not remember how he had used the knife, did not know
that he had caused serious injury, and said he had not intended to seriously
harm or kill anyone.

Asked why he had used the knife, Mr Furtado said: "I was very frightened
that they might kill me."

He added that he had been unhappy in the house because of loud music,
smoking, and the place being left untidy.

He denied telling another worker previously that he would kill Okon.

The trial continues.