A 28-year-old man on trial in state court in April’s fatal stabbing of 16-year-old Farrington High School football player Wesley Ulugalu-Sula is expected to take the witness stand next week and claim self-defense.

Adrian-John Bringas is on trial for murder in the killing of Ulugalu-Sula and for assault in the stabbing and injuring of Ulugalu-Sula’s older brother Chippa at the Towers at Kuhio Park on April 12.

Deputy Prosecutor Rodney Veary told the Circuit Court jury in opening statements Thursday that Bringas offered to sell Ulugalu-Sula some marijuana, let him smoke a sample, then attacked when Ulugalu-Sula said he didn’t have any money. He said Ulugalu-Sula was trying to run away when Bringas stabbed him.

Ulugalu-Sula died from a single stab wound to his chest.

Veary told the jury that after Bringas stabbed Ulugalu-Sula, he stood over his victim and said, “Ooh, I like this. Anybody else?”

He said a witness who saw what happened alerted her boyfriend, who tried to stop Bringas from getting away.

Veary said the witness’s boyfriend backed off when Bringas brandished the knife he used on Ulugalu-Sula. However, he said the boyfriend alerted Ulugalu-Sula’s brother Chippa, who ambushed Bringas and hit him in the head with a heavy object as Bringas was trying to run away. He said Bringas stabbed Chippa Ulugalu-Sula in the right leg, then fled.

Defense lawyer Lee Hayakawa told the jury that Bringas stabbed Wesley and Chippa Ulugalu-Sula after he was mobbed by “anywhere between four, possibly as many as seven attackers, because at a certain point this melee just became a blur in AJ Bringas’ head.”

He said Bringas had stopped at the Kalihi public housing complex because his bicycle chain had fallen off. Hayakawa told the jury that Bringas had just finished repairing his bicycle using a knife when Wesley Ulugalu-Sula approached him smoking marijuana and offered to share.

Hayakawa said Bringas declined Ulugalu-Sula’s offer, and as he was cleaning up, Ulugalu-Sula attacked him with either a bookshelf or rack, knocking him to the ground. He said Bringas was able to get away, but when he reached the roadway, “out of the shadows two to three figures appear. They seem to be converging on him.”

He said the attackers surrounded Bringas and went at him from all angles. Hayakawa said Bringas fell partially facedown to the ground with two attackers on top of him. That’s when he said Bringas swung his knife blindly three to four times. After that, Hayakawa said, the attacks stopped, and Bringas was able to run away.