knife so far into another man's head that it required surgery to be removed, a prosecution witness said yesterday.

Craig Tavares admitted in Supreme Court that he first struck Benjamin with a crash helmet, causing him to fall to the ground.

"If anyone should have been stabbed it should have been me, although I don't accept that my behaviour was the reason Mike (Robson) got stabbed,'' Tavares said.

"But it was a black boy/white boy confrontation. It was a sad thing.'' The fight, which involved three helmets and a knife, took place in the Ice Queen restaurant's parking lot on July 19, 1993.

Tavares maintained that he "did not initiate the fight,'' although he also struck Benjamin's rastafarian friend with his helmet when he rushed to his friend's aid.

The incident arose out of an argument that involved racial epithets, prior bad blood and alcohol.

But none of the three men who gave evidence yesterday saw Benjamin, 27, of Lusher Hill, Warwick, stab Robson.

Benjamin denies charges of attempting to murder Michael David Robson, of Middle Road Southampton, wounding him with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and possessing an offensive weapon.

Both Tavares and his friend Joshua MacGovern said they saw Robson lying on the ground with a knife in his temple.

Tavares said he arrived at the Ice Queen restaurant in Paget with Robson and MacGovern at about 3 a.m. and purchased food.

They had come from socialising at the Cock and Feather and the Oasis nightclub where they had consumed at least four beers each.

At the Ice Queen, they were eating their food as they sat on a wall in the parking lot near their cycles when Benjamin and two rastafarian friends got out of a taxi.

Tavares said Benjamin and his two friends started swearing, first at the restaurant's staff, then at Robson, MacGovern and himself.

"They started making comments like white boy this and that, which went on for quite a while,'' Tavares continued. "We tried to ignore it but they wouldn't stop. At that time Josh (MacGovern) got up and asked them what their problem was.'' Tavares said the two rastafarians continued to hurl racial comments at them while Benjamin walked away from the counter toward the bathrooms.

There, he said, Benjamin pulled out a knife from his pocket, opened it and put it back "very subtly''.

Benjamin then walked toward the wall where the three white men were sitting.

"When he got close to us he reached into his pocket.'' Tavares said. "That really frightened me. I thought he was going to do something so I hit him with my helmet hard enough so that he couldn't get the knife out.'' MacGovern's said Benjamin approached them in an "intimidating way'', after first revealing that he had a knife.

Under cross examination from Mr. Phillip Perinchief, MacGovern conceded he did not see a knife in Benjamin's hand when Tavares struck the first blow with his helmet.

After the initial contact, MacGovern said he went to help Tavares although he was unable to remember what action he took.

The trial continues today before Puisne Judge the Hon. Mr. Justice Ground. Mr.

Khamisi Tokunbo appears for the Crown.