The court heard yesterday that Christopher Griffin, 28, had finished his shift at Belluci's restaurant in Woden when he attacked David Maly at the Lanyon Marketplace on the night of July 18, 2004.

The alleged victim said he invited Griffin to ''be a man'' and fight him without a weapon, but Griffin did not oblige.

In his opening address, prosecutor Chris Todd said Griffin stabbed Mr Maly in the chest with a fruit-peeling knife and slashed a tyre on his Jaguar.

Mr Maly's girlfriend of four weeks, Lisa Lutz, was in the front passenger seat at the time.

But Griffin's lawyer, Bernard Collaery, said his client had acted in self-defence.

''Mr Maly threatened to kill [Griffin],'' he said.

''We say Mr Maly emerged from his Jaguar with a serrated steak knife.''

''[Griffin] acted wholly in self-defence in fear of his life.''

Mr Maly said he had spent the morning fixing his car stereo with a steak knife before driving to Batemans Bay and back with Ms Lutz.

He said that after they returned to his Queanbeyan home about 6pm, Ms Lutz received a number of abusive phone calls from Griffin, her former boyfriend, who owed her money.

''He was verbally insulting her sexually,'' Mr Maly said.

The alleged victim told the court that when he took the phone and asked Griffin what his problem was, the chef threatened him.

''He wanted me to go to his place of work so he could finish me off,'' Mr Maly said.

''I literally told him to go jam it up his arse.''

Mr Maly told the jury that, on Griffin's suggestion, the three met at the Lanyon Marketplace that evening so Griffin could return Ms Lutz's money.

But Mr Maly said that, soon after parking next to Griffin, the man came at him with a kitchen knife.

''He was trying to stab the window,'' he said. ''I said, 'What are you trying to do, kill someone?' And he said, 'I'll do more than that.'''