A MAN knifed a Bournemouth student in the heart before dragging her body into undergrowth and covering it with leaves, a court has heard.

Alvin Jay Santos, 25, attacked Linda Lietaviete in Horseshoe Common on the evening of December 12 last year before returning home and telling his sister Catherine he’d stabbed a woman, it is alleged.

The 16-year-old’s body was discovered in the early hours of the following morning after her worried mother and friend reported her missing.

But officers had already been called by Catherine Santos, who told them that they needed to go to the common to help an injured woman, the hearing was told.

Santos has denied a single count of murder, but admitted manslaughter ahead of the trial at Winchester Crown Court.

The Crown Prosecution Service has not accepted the plea.

Kerry Maylin, prosecuting, told the court that police officers went to Santos’s home in Wimborne Road, Bournemouth, after calls from his sister.

Ms Maylin said: “He said to the officers, ‘Can you kill me without hurting me?’ and ‘Kill me, kill me’.”

Paramedics searching for Miss Lietaviete on the common found her body under a pile of leaves.

They had spotted a “pool of blood” close to the flyover and followed “drag marks” before making the discovery.

The former Glenmoor schoolgirl had suffered seven stab wounds to the left hand side of her chest that ranged from two to seven centimetres deep.

She also had wounds on her upper body indicative of “defensive” injuries, Ms Maylin said. 

Miss Lietaviete and the defendant had known each other since she was around 14 years old, the court heard.

The prosecution alleged that Santos had been romantically interested in Miss Lietaviete, even gifting her with jewellery one Valentine’s Day, but that she had wanted to maintain their friendship.

Following the killing, Santos told police during official interview that Miss Lietaviete had told him she was responsible for an attack on him two years before.

In the assault, Santos suffered a number of severe injuries, including a broken jaw, and was unwell for four months afterwards, the hearing was told.

Ms Maylin said: “[He told police that] because of his injuries, when he gets angry he blacks out and this is what happened.

“When he came around, he saw Linda (Miss Lietaviete) on the ground and he was holding a knife. He carried a knife when he was nervous because of the attack, he said.”

She added that Santos then attempted to hide what he had done, trying to pull off Miss Lietaviete’s clothes so he could throw them away.

“He says he was too drunk to do this,” Ms Maylin said.

However, when officers forensically investigated the defendant after his arrest, they did not find evidence that he had consumed an “appreciable amount of alcohol”, although he had taken the drug methylone, she said.

The substance has a similar effect to MDMA or ecstasy.

The trial continues.