A man charged with murdering a pizza takeaway owner in a robbery yesterday denied lying about his role in the crime.
Wali Khan (32) of St Stephen's Road, Highfields, Leicester, is one of three men on trial for the murder of Dogan Dogan.
Mr Dogan, 50, suffocated after he was tied up and robbed of his takings of just over £1,000, the jury at Birmingham Crown Court has been told.
Giving evidence on Friday, Mr Khan said his co defendant, Naveed Naveed, had come up with the idea to rob Mr Dogan.
Yesterday, during cross examination, Naveed's lawyer, Joanna Greenberg QC, accused Khan of telling a "pack of lies."
She challenged him about two phone calls made to Pakistan hours before and after the robbery, at Aladdin's, in Linton Street, Evington, Leicester.
Miss Greenberg said Khan was contacting a friend, who had worked at the takeaway – once to say the robbery was going to take place and later to say it had happened.
But Khan, speaking through an interpreter, said he had tried to phone his younger brother.
However, he could not explain why the number in his mobile phone log for the calls to Pakistan was virtually identical to the number the ex-pizza worker had given to police from memory.
Naveed (28), also of St Stephen's Road, and Sarwar Gader (35) of, Gleneagles Avenue, Rushey Mead, also deny murdering Mr Dogan.
Khan has admitted committing the robbery on January 8.
The trial continues.
