A black belt in karate will claim he accidently shot a father while wrestling a gun off him during a fight in Hove, a court heard.

Edmund Nela, 31, is set to tell jurors at Hove Crown Court he accidently shot Xhem Krasniqi in Selbourne Road, Hove, on May 18 2013, in an act of self-defence fearing that he was going to be “killed or kidnapped”.

Phillip Bennet QC, opening the prosecution case, said Nela, of no fixed address, made the claims in a defence statement having been extradited from Italy on July 9, 2013.

He said Nela, an international karate competitor, claimed he was walking home from picking up his wife Victoria Gale from a restaurant in Hove on the night of the shooting when a BMW containing Mr Krasniqi, Mr Krasniqi’s brother Ismail Zeneli and nephew Kelmed Murataj, pulled up.

He said a gun was wielded at him and he wrestled it from them and “accidently discharged two shots”.

Nela said he did not know if these proved the fatal shots which killed Mr Krasniqi. But Mr Bennett said the prosecution’s case differed.

He said while it was accepted the “deceased groups had baseball bats and wood," it was not agreed they had a firearm.

He said the only person witnesses saw with a gun was Nela.

Nela denies murdering Mr Krasniqi, two counts of attempted murder against Ismail Zeneli and Kelmed Muratij, possessing a 9mm self-loading pistol and possessions of firearms with intent to cause fear or danger of life.

See below for tweets from Argus reporter Anna Roberts from court.