A delivery driver chopped and stabbed to death in a quiet Canonbury street 19 years ago used his final breaths to tell a stranger: “He’s got a knife. They want to kill me. Be careful.”

That was the chilling claim made in court this afternoon as the alleged murderer of Abdus “Kamal” Samad faced charges nearly two decades after the takeaway worker’s killing.

Mr Samad suffered 18 wounds with a meat cleaver and knife after being lured to Alwyne Villas on May 21, 1997, it was said. The Whittington Hospital surgeon who tried to save his life told jurors the injuries were the “worst I have ever seen in my career”.

Foyjur Rahman, 44, is standing trial at the Old Bailey after he was extradited from the US in January. The court heard he left the UK two days after the attack. He is accused of being one of two men who carried out the brutal killing.

Prosecutor Mark Ellison told the court that 25-year-old Mr Samad, a married father-of-two from Bow, was murdered after refusing to act as an intermediary in a feud between two groups in Putney and Stoke Newington.

Mr Samad, along with two others, had recently taken over the Curry in a Hurry takeaway in St Paul’s Road, Highbury.

Opening the case, Mr Ellison said: “At 10.13pm, a telephone order was placed for 34, Alwyne Road. This in fact had nothing to do with the occupants. The call was made to lure Kamal to a relatively quiet location.

“His attackers came prepared that night, with a meat cleaver and two makeshift masks. Kamal arrived in Alwyne Road in a red Honda. It stopped outside the address with him no doubt thinking it was a routine delivery. He never got to make that delivery.

“He must have got out because one of the carrier bags was found down the road. The chase and vicious attack that followed – involving a meat cleaver and knife – made sufficient noise to alarm a number of residents who looked outside and saw what was taking place.

“The very start of the attack was not witnessed by anyone. We suggest the attackers were waiting close to number 34. He was able to run away from his assailants, and for some distance, into Alwyne Villas.”

Mr Ellison said one female witness saw the three men run past her. “The man in front [Mr Samad] said to her: ‘He’s got a knife. They want to kill me. Be careful.’

“She rushed into her house in Alwyne Road and told her husband that someone was being murdered. He ran outside and saw three men: one lying on the ground, another crouched and the other with a large stick. He shouted at them and two of the men ran off.”

Emergency services were called at 10.37pm and there was a large pool of blood around Mr Samad’s body, Mr Ellison told the court.

He was rushed to Whittington Hospital, where he died. He had wounds and cuts to the skull, waist, right side of his face, left groin, left and right hands, left and right shoulders, right knee, right lower leg, left ankle, mid-left thigh and left upper arm.

Overall, there were 18 blows: seven consistent with chopping actions and six with stabbing.

Mr Ellison said: “This defendant is shown by all evidence to have been present and participated in this attack.”

The court heard Rahman, now 44, was joint owner of a Putney takeaway said to be in dispute with the “Stoke Newington boys”.

Kamal was enlisted to be an intermediary between the two, but refused. Because of this, he was threatened with “physical consequences”.

Mr Ellison said a saliva sample taken from one of the makeshift masks matched the full DNA profile of Rahman, who sat in the dock this afternoon wearing a grey suit.

He added: “The probability that this sample could be matched with someone else in the general population, unrelated to the attack, is one in a billion.”

Carrier bags found at the scene also had six finger marks that matched Rahman, Mr Ellison said.

The trial continues.