A young man was stabbed to death after confronting a teenager who stared at him while he sat with his girlfriend at The Brewery shopping centre, a court heard.
Hosam Eisa, 20, from Dagenham, had just come out of the Vue Cinema with partner Salma Begum when they saw a group wearing hoodies, jurors were told.
She later told police that one of the youths looked at Mr Eisa but she grabbed his hand to prevent a confrontation.
Minutes later, Mr Eisa was seen “squaring up” to one of them in The Brewery car park, the Old Bailey heard.
A 17 year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, punched the victim before Che Pullen, 20, stabbed him four times in the chest, face and skull.
Mr Eisa died in hospital an hour later from a fatal wound to his heart.
Pullen, of Loom Grove, claims he was defending the 17-year-old, also from Romford, from attack, because the victim was armed with a yellow craft knife.
CCTV cameras captured most of the fight at around 4.30pm on May 18.
Prosecutor John McGuinness told jurors that the two suspects did not know Mr Eisa and only “clapped eyes on him” for the first time just 15 minutes before the fight.
Mr McGuinness said: “It was two onto one and though Eisa may have had a knife he did not get the opportunity to use it.
“Pullen stabbed Eisa no fewer than four times and did so with some force.
“In addition to the fatal wound to the heart, Pullen stabbed Eisa twice in the face and once in the his skull.
“When he inflicted these stab wounds he intended - at the very least - to cause Eisa really serious harm.”
Both defendants deny murder.
The trial continues.
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