A spectator at the Wellington Oval football fracas told a jury how he frantically raced to save his friend?s life as thugs circled armed with machetes and knives.

Everest Trott leapt from the scoreboard at the St. George?s stadium and grabbed a piece of wood in a bid to help his grounded pal Tarik Foster, a court heard.

Mr. Trott told the attempted murder retrial jury how he feared a man with a knife was going to stab Mr. Foster.

?I thought at the time, my boy is going to die and I just wanted to prevent that from happening,? the witness added when he gave evidence yesterday.

At the start of the second week of the high-profile trial, Mr. Trott also told the court of the ?chaos? that engulfed Wellington Oval when gangs clashed and a day of finals spiralled into violent mayhem.

The witness, from St. George?s, told the court that when a man came at him with a knife he ?touched him on the side of the head? with the piece of wood because he feared for his life.

But the trial heard last week that when Mr. Trott hit the brother of Ki-Roy Kinta Butterfield ? one of three men accused of attempted murder ? the victim dropped to the ground from the blow, apparently unconscious.

Mr. Trott said in the commotion that followed he ran behind the cricket sightscreen when he tripped over and was punched and kicked. He later managed to escape over a gate, the court heard, after questions from Senior Crown counsel Carrington Mahoney.

Butterfield, 27, of Cherry Hill Park, Paget; Jahcai Morris, 24, of Sylvan Dell, Paget, and Bascome, 22, of Dunscombe Road, Warwick, all deny attempting to murder Tarik Foster at the Friendship Trophy soccer final at St. George?s stadium on April 4, 2004.

The trio also pleaded not guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent.

The trial has already been told how Mr. Foster was left unconscious after being pursued by Morris and Bascome ? one with a blade, another with a machete.

Earlier yesterday, another witness Kuma Smith gave his version of events of the Wellington Oval violence.

Mr. Smith, who also got caught up in the on-field mayhem, said he ran on to the field when he saw his friend Mr. Trott being attacked with a machete.

Mr. Smith, who had started giving evidence last Thursday, also identified in court what he said was a ?distinctive? knife brandished at the stadium.

The weapon was also shown to the jury of nine women and three men.

After Mr. Foster was struck on the arm with the blade, the witness added, the knife broke. Mr. Smith then said he picked it up for protection before handing it to Police.

At that stage, he said all three defendants were on the pitch among a large group.

?They were about to chase me. I did not really see anything at the time because I was running ? but I was trying to get away from the man with the machete.?

But under cross-examination from Elizabeth Christopher, for Butterfield, Mr. Smith confirmed that Mr. Foster had the nickname ?Psycho?. Mr. Smith said he did not know why this was the case.

Miss Christopher claimed Mr. Smith never saw her client armed with a weapon and had made no reference to this in his Police statement.

She added that Mr. Smith was ?totally mistaken? when he said that Butterfield had a weapon before his brother was struck by Mr. Trott.

But the witness replied: ?I know that when I confronted him he had a weapon. The exact time, I can?t say.?

Cross-examined by Charles Richardson, for Morris, Mr. Smith admitted that it could have been possible that the blade he picked up during the melee may not have broken, but might have fallen out of the handle.

Ed Bailey, for Bascome, raised doubts about the witness? memory and claimed that the evidence Mr. Smith had given was not what he remembered, but what he had been told to say by Police.

He also told the court about Mr. Smith?s criminal record, which Mr. Bailey said included ?no less than? three dishonesty convictions.

?Your behaviour suggests you are a dishonest person,? said Mr. Bailey, who claimed his testimony had been a ?pack of lies?. The witness replied: ?It was to the best of my memory. I can?t remember everything in detail from two years ago.?

Questioned by Mr. Mahoney, for the prosecution, Mr. Smith maintained he did not know the defendants ? but knew of them.

Butterfield has also pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempted wounding with intent to cause GBH, possessing an offensive weapon and being armed in public to cause terror.

Morris and Bascome have both denied possessing an offensive weapon and being armed in public to cause terror.

The trial continues.