There was emotional testimony at the murder trial of a London man charged in the death of a family friend.

The jury heard details about the commotion that followed the stabbing of 50-year-old Suzan Aisha Jacob in July 2015.

Juma Kuol, 53, of London is charged with second-degree murder in her death. He has pleaded not guilty.

Karen Lamont lived across the hall from the victim in the Whitney Street apartments.

In the early hours of Canada Day in 2015 she told the court she heard a man screaming, "He needed help...he needed someone to call 911."

Lamont said she tried to calm the man down, but “he just kept repeating the same thing over and over again...she's dead."

Later when she went into the apartment she says she saw a woman on the couch, "She had...a lot of blood to the upper part of her body."

The jury heard that Jacob had suffered several stab wounds.

Officers quickly arrested Kuol at the scene.

Throughout Tuesday’s testimony the accused could be seen grabbing a tissue and wiping away tears as he sat in the prisoner’s box.

The court heard from London police Const. Jessica Burt, who was first on the scene.

She described how paramedics tried to save the victim, and about finding a knife with blood stains in the apartment.

The trial is slated to last five weeks.