A teenage girl warned two boys to stop arguing – “it’s a 16th birthday party” – moments before one of them was stabbed to death, a court heard.

Charlie Kutyauripo, 16, was knifed outside the 100-strong celebration at Ashton Playing Fields, Woodford Bridge, just after 9.30pm on January 9.

Charlie, of Collier Row Lane, Collier Row, was taken to Whipps Cross Hospital, in Leytonstone, but died within the hour.

A 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is on trial at the Old Bailey charged with Charlie’s murder.

The female witness told the court she saw the fatal confrontation between the pair outside the party.

“He [the defendant] said to Charlie ‘I heard you have been talking about me’. They started to raise their voices.

“I said to them to leave it and that it was a 16th birthday party.”

Prosecutor Louis Mably QC previously told the jury that the pair had used to be friends, before they fell out towards the end of last year.

The witness continued: “Charlie pushed the defendant and then the defendant pushed him back and Charlie fell over. He was bleeding on his chest area.”

She told the court the defendant “threw something in the bushes” before running off.

Former King Solomon High pupil Charlie staggered to the entrance to the sports hall before he collapsed.

Oliver Saxby QC, representing the defence, questioned the girl about what Charlie had said to the defendant during the confrontation.

He asked: “Was Charlie calling the defendant a pussy or something to that effect?”

“Yes,” she admitted to the court.

Mr Saxby QC continued: “The defendant started to walk away, what did Charlie say when he walked away?”

The girl told the jury she could not remember.

The defence barrister said: “He said something which made the defendant turn back around.”

The jury last week were shown CCTV footage in which Charlie is walking behind the defendant, down a road beside the building.

The boy on trial appears to turn round and stab Charlie twice, once in the chest and once in the shoulder.

Mr Saxby QC asked the girl: “Did you see Charlie reaching in his pocket?”

“I think so,” she told the court.

The boy, from Seven Kings, denies the charge. The trial continues.