A trial lasting less than a day came down to the question of a man?s right to defend himself yesterday.

Collin Leonard Whitehead Hendrickson, 48, of Dundonald Street in Hamilton, stood accused in Supreme Court yesterday of wounding Damany Bilal Burchall with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and possession of a knife in a public place, both on May 14, 2003.

He pleaded not guilty to both accusations.

The six-man, six-woman jury heard from 23-year old Mr. Burchall first. Admitting he was ?more than drunk, sheesh, I was toasted,? Mr. Burchall said he left Spinning Wheel night-club around 12.30 p.m.

He saw Hendrickson, a 48-year old truck driver whom he had known for about three years, outside, and said he asked him for a lift home.

?Then I must?ve started hitting him,? he said.

?It wasn?t trying to beat him up, it was a hard ?can-I-get-a-lift? type of tap? ? taps Mr. Burchall later referred to as ?love taps?.

?Then I hit him on the head, I tapped him on the helmet.? In a statement to Police the day after the incident, Mr. Burchall said he ?must?ve hit (Hendrickson) harder than I thought, because he spun right around?. He also told Police Hendrickson asked him to leave him alone three times.

Hendrickson then got off the bike and approached Mr. Burchall, he said. ?I thought he was playing... Next thing I knew I felt warm, I felt dripping. I felt drips coming down me, coming out of my neck.?

The two men engaged in a scuffle which resulted in Mr. Burchall receiving four stab wounds, two of which required five stitches each. The incident ?felt like it took about half an hour,? he said.

The wound to his neck was described by the general surgeon who treated Mr. Burchall in the hospital later that night as ?lucky? ? had it been an inch deeper, it could have been lethal.

Hendrickson?s lawyer Mark Pettingill attacked Mr. Burchall on the cross-examination using contradicting statements he had made to Police and the court.

Though Mr. Pettingill suggested Mr. Burchall turned into ?a violent thug? and a ?bully? when he had been drinking, Mr. Burchall maintained he was incapable of understanding what was going on or defending himself when drunk.

?Were you afraid (of Hendrickson)? ? Mr. Pettingill asked.

?No. I?m not afraid of anybody,? Mr. Burchall replied. He also agreed that the 48-year old was a much smaller man than he was.

Hendrickson exercised his right not to speak in his own defence and no defence witnesses were called.

Instead, his side of the story was presented in the form of statements to Police made at the time of the incident which were read in the courtroom by Crown Police witnesses.

In those statements, Hendrickson said he was talking to two men, one of whom he knew, outside Spinning Wheel at the time in question.

He had not been drinking or doing drugs that evening.

Mr. Burchall appeared and asked for a lift, he said in the statements.

?Then, out of the blue, he slapped me upside my head on the helmet, open-handed.?

Thinking Mr. Burchall was joking, Hendrickson asked him to stop.

However, he said, Mr. Burchall slapped him again, and then attempted to take his bike from him.

Hendrickson said Mr. Burchall hit him five or six times. Wearing his work clothes, he took his keys from his pocket thinking to get away, and his work pocket-knife came out of the pocket also. ?He kept slapping me. So I stuck him with it.?

When Mr. Burchall grabbed Hendrickson in a bear hug, he thought he was trying to get the knife from him, and struggled harder to get away. In the process, he said, Mr. Burchall was cut three more times: ?I don?t know where. I just wanted to get away.

?It wasn?t even necessary. It shouldn?t even have happened. The guy was twice my size. I felt threatened.

?I was only defending myself. I never intended to kill nobody.?

Finally breaking free, he rode away as quickly as possible. The incident had lasted just a few minutes, he said.

Calling Hendrickson?s actions ?disproportionate? and ?unreasonable?, Crown counsel Graveney Bannister said the defendant had ?overreacted?.

?Even if the defendant was upset or felt insulted, he could have used some other recourse,? he said. ?He didn?t start the bike, he opened the knife.

?He overreacted, he went beyond what was necessary.?

However, Mr. Pettingill said, Hendrickson felt ?in peril? and was averting danger by an ?immediate reaction?.

Had he been truly trying to hurt Mr. Burchall, he said, he could have stabbed him ?20 or 30 times? in the time the incident took place.

?He?s a small man, he?s barely been able to look over the (dock) and watch the trial,? he said.

?A person defending himself cannot weigh to an exact nicety the measure of defence needed. It?s what you honestly and instinctually believe... He?s stuck him and he?s not going down, now (Hendrickson thinks) he?s trying to get the knife. What?s unrealistic about any of that?

?He has a legal right not to be a victim.?

Acting Assistant Justice Archie Warner will give the summation of the case today, and a verdict is expected by this afternoon.