A man was struck on the head with a machete, which cut into his skull during an argument about a missing motorbike, a court has been told.

Two defendants have denied they broke into a house and set about attacking the owner with a machete, claiming instead they acted in self defence after a machete was pulled on them.

A jury has heard two versions of what is alleged to have happened at the apartment in Southampton on January 23 this year. Co-defendants Reggie Devonne Lowe, 21, and Elroy Jermaine Dill, 24, admit they were at the home of David Leroy Burchall in Horseshoe Road and that during a scuffle Mr. Burchall was struck on the head with a machete.

But the events leading up to the machete injury remain in dispute after the first day of a trial at the Supreme Court.

Lowe and Dill have both pleaded not guilty to charges of house breaking and wounding with intent.

The prosecution case, presented by Shakira Dill, alleges that Mr. Burchall was sleeping in an armchair when he was shaken awake by Dill and Lowe who had broken in to the apartment.

?I was awoken by Jermaine shaking me and asking me about his motorbike that was missing,? said Mr. Burchall, 31, as he gave evidence. ?I told him I did not know anything about his missing bike and then I saw Reggie walking behind him with a machete in his hand.

?I had a machete of my own tucked into the side of the armchair that I was leaning on and had covered up with my body. When I saw that Reggie had a machete I pulled my machete out as a sort of defence if necessary. I was scared that they were coming to sort me out.

?Jermaine stepped back and said ?Oh, you?re pulling a machete on me? and I started to stand up. As I was halfway up I went in a complete daze and saw this machete coming at me. Reggie had it.?

Mr. Burchall told the court that he recalled being shoved and pushed in the attack and being hit on his shoulder and back by the machete and that Lowe had grabbed his machete away saying ?Give me that? and then left with both machetes.

?I came out of the daze and wiped blood from my head and Jermaine was fleeing my apartment and he said he better not find out I had anything to do with his bike being missing.?

Mr. Burchall said he had been out late the previous evening and only got home at 6 a.m. and fell asleep in the armchair after locking the front door.

His then girlfriend had got up from bed a few hours later and after a brief ?disagreement? with Mr. Burchall had left the apartment, slamming the door behind her. Mr. Burchall said he had gone back to sleep in the chair without checking to see if the door had been locked again.

But that was not how how Lowe and Dill, both of Fork Lane, Southampton, remembered events.

Dill told the court that he had seen Mr. Burchall during the night driving his truck along Fork Lane and the next morning discovered his motorbike was missing.

Co-defendant Lowe claimed in court that Mr. Burchall was known to take other people?s motorbikes.

The pair, who both gave evidence in court, said they had gone to the apartment and knocked on the door, which had then been opened by Mr. Burchall.

They asked him about the missing bike at which point Mr. Burchall is alleged to have pulled a machete out from behind the door and raised it towards the pair.

?He raised it as if he was going to swing it at me or attack me,? Lowe told the jury. ?Me and Jermaine both wrestled and scuffled with him and went into the house. He dropped the machete and I picked it up in defence and slapped him with it.?

When he saw blood coming from a wound to Mr. Burchall?s head Lowe claimed he dropped the machete back on the floor.

Dill gave a similar account of the incident and said he and Lowe left the apartment after realising Mr. Burchall had been injured. Mr. Burchall needed an overnight stay at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for treatment to his injuries, which included a bone-deep machete cut to his forehead and minor cuts to his shoulder and leg.

Lowe and Dill are represented in court by Larry Scott. The trial continues.