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A family friend has told a court how he witnessed a "vicious" fatal attack on a man in east Belfast five years ago.

Ian Ogle, 45, died after being beaten and stabbed 11 times near his home in Cluan Place in January 2019.

Three men are on trial at Belfast Crown Court accused of his murder.

Glenn Rainey, from Ballyhalbert Caravan Park; Alan Ervine of Litchfield Street, Belfast; and Robert Spiers, from Millars Park in Dundonald, deny murder.

"Hit with bat 30, 40, 50 times"

In a statement read into evidence, a man who was a close friend of the victim's son, said he was walking his dog in the area when he met Ian Ogle, shortly before he was attacked by a group of masked men.

He described how "they all started beating him" and one of the men used a "flick bat" to hit Ian Ogle "30, 40, 50 times".

He added another man was using "a baseball" type weapon.

He said one of the group stamped repeatedly on the victim's head and he recalled seeing a man stamping on him at least 20 times "as hard as he could".

The witness said Ian Ogle said nothing but cried out in pain. He added "his cries wouldn't make them stop".

After the attack was over, the witness said Ian Ogle's back "looked sliced" and "his face was mangled and red with blood".

The witness said it was "a vicious attack" and his statement also explained that, as the men were leaving, one of the attackers warned him that he would get the same if he said anything.

'Blood everywhere'

A relative of the Ogle family told the court that she arrived on the scene shortly after the attack and noticed stab wounds on the victim's back and "blood running into a drain".

A paramedic described the scene afterwards as "crazy" with a big crowd of distressed people "shouting and screaming" while the victim was on the ground with "blood pumping out of him".

Another paramedic said, "it looked as if he was dead, as if he had bled to death".

Two other men, Jonathan Brown, 38, from Whinney Hill in Dundonald and Mark Sewell, 45, of Glenmount Drive in Newtownabbey have already pleaded guilty to murder.

The trial continues.