A BOY of 15 was stabbed to death in a row over a bottle of Buckfast, a court heard.

The High Court in Kilmarnock was told that Easton Nicol was attacked after taking a drink of the tonic wine from another youth and refusing to give it back.

Kirsty Irvine, 18, said she saw Mr Nicol start talking to a group of youths, and one gave him a bottle of Buckfast.

Miss Irvine, who was with friends across the road, said: "I think Easton took a drink out of it and then we heard an argument. It looked like Easton wouldn't give the boy his Buckfast back.

"One boy was standing at the back of the group and he came forward towards Easton and it looked like he punched him.

She said Mr Nicol turned around and appeared to be punched twice in the stomach and once in the back.

He was then heard to say: "I think I've been stabbed."

A 15-year-old boy from Irvine, Ayrshire, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies striking Mr Nicol repeatedly on the body with a knife and murdering him in Wellington Street, Kilmarnock, last December 8.

He also denies assaulting Scott Duncan, then 15, with another by repeatedly pushing him, punching him on the head and body and knocking him to the ground at Kilmarnock bus station later that evening.

Mr Duncan, now 16, yesterday told the court he had met some friends, including the accused, in Irvine before catching a bus to Kilmarnock where they planned to go to a party.

He saw one boy had a knife with a 10-inch blade which he slipped to Mr Duncan after they arrived in Kilmarnock and spotted a police car.

He threw the weapon into a garden.

After discovering the party was cancelled, the group retraced their steps back into Kilmarnock town centre where he heard one of them say: "It's all right - I've found the knife."

Mr Duncan said an argument broke out with other youths near Blacks Bar.

He saw the accused run past him towards the boy with the Buckfast bottle. He then heard screaming.

Mr Duncan added: "I started to run then he tapped me on the shoulder, telling me to keep running because he'd just stabbed the boy."

The trial continues.