A man maimed by attackers wielding machetes and a hoe told a jury he believed he knows one of the alleged assailants from prison.

Kuma Smith, 30, was chopped in the head, arm and back in the attack, and also lost a ?pinkie? finger.

Harron Lee Powell Evans, 31, Akono Shakir Parsons, 24, and Davon Michael Marson, 29, are accused of attempted murder ? charges which they deny.

The prosecution case outlined by Crown Counsel Carrington Mahoney is that on the afternoon of January 5, 2005, Marson attacked Mr. Smith from behind with a machete in the Deepdale area of Devonshire ? causing the victim to punch him.

The other two defendants are alleged to have joined in and rushed Mr. Smith, who ran away.

Evans and Parsons then pursued him on motorbikes, the Supreme Court was told.

Mr. Smith jumped into the back of a moving truck, but the pair stopped it and attacked him ? one with a machete and one with a hoe, the jury has heard.

Mr. Mahoney said various chops led to Mr. Smith?s left ?pinkie? finger being cut off and his arm being broken.

After this, Evans and Parsons are accused of causing damage to a motorcycle the victim had been riding.

Yesterday, Charles Richardson, defending Evans, asked Mr. Smith if he recalled telling Police on two occasions that his finger had been chopped off by a machete, not a hoe.

When Mr. Richardson put it to him that in earlier evidence, Mr. Smith ?went to great pains to convince the jury that your finger was cut by the hoe?, he said the remark about the hoe had been a ?theory?.

In answer to further questions about which implement maimed him, he said: ?I still ain?t sure.?

Mr. Richardson then asked about evidence Mr. Smith gave earlier in the trial that he knew Evans because he had been in jail with him ? putting it to him that this was untrue.

Mr. Smith confirmed that he had been in Westgate Correctional Facility between January 6 and February 20, 1998, but could could neither confirm nor deny that Evans was there with him.

He also agreed that he had been in Westgate from December 16, 2002 until September 3, 2003, and at the prison farm from February 20, 1998 until June 17, 1998. He said Evans was not there during either of these periods.

Accused by Mr. Richardson of being ?deliberately untruthful,? Mr. Smith claimed he meant that while he was in one of these facilities, Evans may have been in the other.

Asked if he could be sure that Evans was in one or other of the facilities at the same time as him, Mr. Smith replied: ?Yes, because I can recall a bank robbery going down in ?97.?

He said he himself had been incarcerated not long afterwards, so ?by chance? Evans could have been in what he termed ?maximum? (custody) while he was on remand.

?I believe I have seen him,? he told the jury.

In addition to the attempted murder charge, Evans and Parsons are accused of wilful damage and possessing an offensive weapon, with Parsons also accused of common assault. Marson faces a charge of possessing an offensive weapon.