A MAN accused of a vicious knife attack told police he didn't do it - and that he was in fact the victim.

Qasim Mika is alleged to have launched the assault on a man who turned up at an address in Devon Road, Blackburn, after Mika had insulted the man's partner.

But when later questioned by police, the defendant denied having a knife, or stabbing anyone, and suggested that he himself had been subjected to an attack that rendered him unconscious.

Mika, 18, of Walworth Road, London, denies a charge of wounding Abdul-Khaliq Amin with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

At the start of a Preston Crown Court trial, Tony Longworth, prosecuting, said Mika had a relationship with a woman called Angela Morrison.

After a night out in Blackburn town centre with some other women, she met Mika, and later the pair were among several people in a taxi, where Mika is alleged to have made sexually offensive suggestions to another woman.

That woman became very annoyed and later said she would get a man to "sort out" the defendant.

Mika was later at Angela Morrison's home in Devon Road when the woman from the taxi journey turned up, shouting that her partner was there to sort the defendant out.

The prosecution allege that Mika, knowing there was to be a confrontation, went outside, armed with a knife.

Mr Longworth told the court: "He was confronted by Mr Amin who had a stick or piece of wood. The two men fought and the defendant stabbed Mr Amin several times, in the shoulder, back, stomach and face."

When later arrested and interviewed by police, Mika told officers that a woman had called round to the house in Devon Road and bundled him outside.

The defendant said he did not have a knife or weapon. He alleged that he was attacked by Mr Amin with a stick and was beaten unconscious.

(Proceeding)