Frankfurt - An Eritrean man appeared in court in Frankfurt Wednesday on a manslaughter charge in connection with the death of a Nigerian man, in a case that has grabbed headlines in Germany.

The 35-year Eritrean admitted that he stabbed the 21-year-old Emeka Okoronkwo in the early hours of May 2 last year, but argued that he had acted in self-defence.

Prosecutors said the victim had intervened to protect two women from the Eritrean’s advances on a street in Frankfurt when a fight broke out, in which the accused had taken a ‘targeted stab at the heart region.’

The accused told the court the knife belonged to Okoronkwo, but fell to the ground as the men fought. He told the court that he picked it up and stabbed at his victim out of self-defence.

‘I am not a murderer, I didn’t want to kill anyone,’ he sobbed.

The case has been widely publicized in Germany, where it is being compared with that of Dominik Brunner, a 50-year-old who died in 2009 after two teenagers attacked him for intervening as they harried younger children on a suburban train in Munich.

The hearing is set to resume on February 22.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur