A man accused of the attempted murder of Jelani (Roots) Butterfield in December 2002 was given a reprieve yesterday after Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves ruled he had no case to answer.

However, Brandon (Cal) Barnes Brockett, 21, of Farm Lane in Warwick, remained in the Supreme Court dock to face a separate charge of intent to cause grievous bodily harm during an alleged attack on Mr. Butterfield in the bathroom of Dockyard?s Club Malabar.

Brockett is accused of attacking Mr. Butterfield from behind with a knife in the early hours of December 22, stabbing him once in the lower left-hand side of his back and once in the right armpit as they struggled together on the floor.

Crown counsel Wayne Caines maintained this was a ?cold and calculated? attack, while witnesses at Club Malabar have testified that they saw Brockett entering the men?s toilets soon after Mr. Butterfield while an unidentified friend guarded the door and prevented others from entering.

Brockett was seen a few minutes later walking out of the club with blood stains on his shirt.

However, testifying yesterday under examination from defence counsel Victoria Pearman, Brockett denied he went into the bathroom to hurt Mr. Butterfield, but had himself been attacked and he was provoked into defending himself.

He conceded, however, that he had taken a knife with him into the club.

The incident was the culmination of a recent feud between the two men, Brockett said, where his life had been threatened by Mr. Butterfield and an accomplice on two separate occasions in late 2002.

One such incident took place at White Hill sports club in early December, where Brockett claims he was slashed on the forehead with a knife by one of Mr. Butterfield?s friends ? presenting a large scar to the court as evidence of the attack.

Brockett said he had been drinking at the Pembroke Hamilton Club (PHC) in Warwick on the night of December 22 and, just after midnight, took a taxi to Club Malabar to meet up with friends.

After finishing his first drink at the bar, Brockett claimed he went to the bathroom where he encountered Mr. Butterfield ? who proceeded to mock his scar and jokingly ask him where he had picked up the injury.

Brockett said he ignored the jibe and turned to use the urinal, when he was unexpectedly set upon.

?When my head was turned he tried to tackle me and push me towards the urinals,? he said.

?We got in to a bit of a scuffle and as I pushed him away I felt a sort of pouch on his left side which I thought he kept his knife in. So I took my knife out of my back pocket to try and scare him so that he would leave me alone. But he kept on trying to attack me.?

Brockett said he then gripped his attacker around the waist with both hands and he ?felt? the knife enter Mr. Butterfield?s back.

?I thought that would make him stop but he carried on doing what he was doing,? he said.

?He then gripped the end of the knife and we carried on struggling for it. I managed to get the knife away from his hand and I then tried to prick him in his arm so that he would stop. Once I?d done that, he backed off gripping his arm and I left the bathroom and walked straight out of the club.?

Mr. Butterfield was rushed to hospital soon after where two surgeons saved his life ? despite the loss of two fifths of his overall blood supply in the operating theatre alone.

The trial continues this morning when Brockett will be cross-examined by the Crown.