Mitchell Conery wasn’t having an easy time selling Bell subscriptions door-to-door but was motivated to keep trying by his well-dressed, older colleague and mentor who was a top salesman and “such a caring guy.”

Conery repeated Zack Noureddine’s encouraging words as he lay dying, gasping for air, his eyes puffed out, on a cold, dark street near Yonge and Eglinton after the pair were attacked by three strangers during an alleged attempted robbery.

“We’re fighting together ... you’re going to be OK, we’re going to push through together,” Conery, his voice choking with emotion, said he told Noureddine, who died hours later in hospital. He was 26.

Conery was testifying Tuesday in Superior Court where William Cummins, 32, Matthew Moreira, 34, and Patrick Smith, 29, are on trial for first-degree murder and robbery. The jury has heard the Crown rejected an attempt by the three men to plead guilty to lesser offences.

The Crown’s argument on first-degree murder is that there was forcible confinement involved during the altercation, allegedly when Conery was stepped on by one of the men, after he was punched in the head and lay on the ground.

Conery, then 22, fought to compose himself as he recounted the events after he and Noureddine went for a post-work drink with co-workers on Dec. 29, 2015. Shortly after midnight, Conery and Noureddine, who were wearing suits and smoking, left the restaurant and were walking to Conery’s car when three men came out of an alley.

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One of two taller and heavier-set men struck him on the left side of his head, knocking his prescription glasses off his face and popping the cigarette out of his mouth, he told the jury.

Neither he nor Noureddine said anything to provoke the assault, he insisted.

Conery said he could still make out figures and movement without his glasses, but not in “acute detail.”

As he lay on the ground, Conery watched two males kick and punch Noureddine, who was held by his arms, giving him “no way of defending himself.”

Noureddine couldn’t break free because of the hold they had on him, he added. “I knew it was going overboard.”

At that point, Conery said he was confused about the “random nature of everything.” One of the men wearing khaki coloured boots stepped on his head, and demanded his wallet, suggesting if he turned it over, “it’s all done,” Conery said.

“How did you react?” Crown attorney Mihael Cole asked.

“I told him I didn’t have a wallet ... If I had a wallet, I would have given it up.”

Conery continued to stay on the ground, feeling “trapped,” and listening to his “gut instinct” telling him “it is just best to stay on the ground.”

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His eyes welling up with tears, Conery said he could hear Noureddine “pleading for some humanity.”

The whole altercation lasted about 30 seconds, the witness said.

The trial continues.