By A Staff Writer Toronto An Indo-Canadian youth pleaded not guilty in a murder trial case. Raman Gill , a Mississauga resident pleaded not guilty Friday to murdering Tom Garavellos, 25, also of Mississauga, back in August 2003. A "silly insult" directed at three men who were watching the stars through a telescope on the night of the 2003 blackout cost a Mississauga man his life, jurors were told Raman Gill, 27, pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, while admitting to fatally stabbing Tom Garavellos, 25, on Aug. 14, 2003 near Dundas St. and Ridgeway Dr., Crown prosecutor Cam Watson told jurors in his opening address. Watson told the jury Gill didn't deliver the fatal stab wound in self-defense. It was Garavellos who was, "trying to protect himself and acting in a defensive manner when he was stabbed," Watson said. Court heard Garavellos and his friend, Steve Medeiros, were driving on Turnstone Cr. in west Erin Mills on their way to see another friend, who had been diagnosed with cancer. The pair came across Gill and two of his friends, Hassan Chaudhry and Fahd Hassan, who were taking advantage of the huge blackout, which covered much of the northeastern U.S. and southern Ontario, to stargaze. Court heard the fight began when Garavellos, who was riding in the car driven by Medeiros, called Gill and his friends "geeks" for watching the stars. "This silly insult...an off-the-cuff comment...cost Tom his life," Watson told court. Gill reacted by striking the back of the car as it drove away, court heard. Garavellos and Medeiros stopped the car, got out and were challenged to a fight by Gill, Watson said. Garavellos, who was swinging a beer bottle and surrounded by the three men, was punched by Chaudhry and then stabbed in the abdomen by Gill, who had retrieved the knife from his backpack, Watson said. Medeiros had returned to the car to get a wrench, fearing the men were armed with weapons, when his friend was knifed, court heard. The three men then fled. Garavellos died at Credit Valley Hospital just after 3 a.m. Both Hassan and Chaudhry will testify as Crown witnesses. Gill, is a former University of Toronto student while Garavellos was a budding tool and die worker.