A DOORMAN encouraged tragic teenager Christopher Alaneme to sing rap songs as he desperately tried to save his life, a court heard.

Simon Sharp saw the 18-year-old black youth, who had moved from Penge to Sheppey to live, had a serious knife wound and wanted to keep his mind off his injury.

Mr Sharp, a trained first aider who also works with Sheerness Lifeboat, told Maidstone Crown Court that blood was flowing fast from a main artery in the stomach.

“I had him singing 50 Cent songs, anything to keep him going and keep his mind off what was going on,” he said.

Mr Sharp, who worked at Bar One, said even after 15 years as a doorman he found the incident distressing.

He went to Mr Alaneme’s aid while assisting another stab victim, off duty cabbie Mark Davis. Mr Alaneme appeared from the direction of McDonald’s in Sheerness High Street on April 21 last year.

“I thought someone was coming back to carry on,” said Mr Sharp. “He came over towards me and circled the casualty. I told him to go away, thinking he was involved.

“He was facing me all the time. When I said to him to leave it he lifted his top. There was a very fast flow of blood coming from the solar plexus area.”

He helped take Mr Alaneme over to a bench outside Bar One.

“I didn’t want him to lie down but stay upright,” he said. “I went back into the bar and got a cloth. I checked the wound to make sure there was nothing in it and then started to apply pressure to stem the flow.”

Mr Sharp said the victim was “getting worse and getting weak”. But they kept talking to him and managed to keep him conscious.

Asked if Mr Alaneme said anything, Mr Sharp replied that it was only to say: “I’ve been stabbed.”

Gerry Duhig, 28, his brother Sean, 24, both of Camberwell, Andrew Giblin, 27, of Peckham, Terence Beaney, 24, of Woolwich, and Peter Connolly, 30, of Peckham, deny murder.

Giblin, Beaney and Connolly also deny wounding Mr Davis with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The trial continues.