A 16-year-old boy fatally stabbed a father of four in the neck as the man was being dragged out of the driver’s seat of his four-wheel drive by a group of carjacking youths, a court has heard.

Paul Costa, 43, was dressed in a designer suit and in his red Nissan Patrol when he was stabbed, allegedly by one of a gang of five youths, in Brunswick West on July 2 last year. Mr Costa’s family later said they believed he had been on a date that night.

Paul Costa was found dead in Dunstan Reserve, Brunswick West last year.

His body was found the following day under a tree in Dunstan Reserve, Melbourne Magistrates Court heard on Tuesday.

Prosecutors allege that as Mr Costa sat in his 4WD about 9.50pm after dropping off a friend in Peacock Street, three young men and two boys jumped into the Patrol after one of them distracted the driver from outside his window. While in the 4WD the youngest of the group allegedly stabbed Mr Costa in the neck.