A YOUTH accused of murdering a 13-year-old boy has said he did not want to give evidence because it would worry his mother.

The 16-year-old told the Old Bailey he has no idea who attacked Deividas Strizegauskas.

Lithuanian Deividas was kicked to death by a gang of schoolchildren after he was caught up in tensions between rival Asian and Somalian youths at two schools in east London.

The accused teenager from Gravesend insisted he was not part of the gang which murdered rugby player Deividas outside a school in Upton Park.

He said he witnessed the attack from across the street.

The youth said when the mob fled he called 999 on a friend's mobile phone after seeing the victim wobble and then collapse.

He told the operator: "There's some boy, he's fainted on the road.

"He's just had a fight or something. He's faint. He's not getting up."

When asked if the attackers were nearby, he replied: "There was a group of boys. They're long gone."

He stayed with the dying victim and a teacher until an ambulance and then an air ambulance arrived.

The court heard police notes stated: "He will not make a formal statement and did not attend court but will talk, although preferably at school and without his parents' knowledge."

Asked by his barrister, Paul Purnell, why this was the case, the youth said: "My dad was away abroad and my mum would have been worried. I didn't want to worry her."

It was also suggested he knew who the attackers were but would not tell police.

But he said: "I can't say who punched Deividas. It's not I don't want to, but I'm not able to."

The youth denied being involved in the attack when questioned by Mr Purnell.

Deividas was a pupil at Brampton Manor School, Upton Park.

The youth is one of five in court accused of killing him.

They deny murder, manslaughter and violent disorder on April 27 last year.

The other youths have addresses in east London, Kent, Birmingham and West Yorkshire.

They were all 14 and 15 at the time and cannot be named for legal reasons.

The trial continues.