guilty to stabbing a man in a Somerset restaurant last Monday.

Magistrates' Court heard Simmons wounded the man in the chest and cheek with a knife and had to be pulled off him by employees and patrons of the Somerset Country Squire.

Prosecutor Sgt. Donald Grant said Simmons joined the victim at the bar about 9 p.m. and they soon started arguing loudly over money. The complainant eventually slapped Simmons in the face.

Simmons claimed he grabbed the knife from the complainant's hand.

Simmons was taken to Somerset Police Station and charged with wounding while his victim went to hospital where he received one stitch to his chest.

Sgt. Grant said Simmons had an "extensive history of violence'' and had a suspended sentence hanging over his head for threatening behaviour and possession of an offensive weapon.

Simmons told the court he was sorry, but the man had owed him $30 for a job he had done for him.

"Up to this day he hasn't paid me,'' Simmons said.

Before sentencing him, Magistrate the Wor. Charles-Etta Simmons told him, "A slap can't be answered by a knife stab.''