The defence lawyer in the trial of a 24-year-old man accused of attempted murder and intended robbery yesterday alleged the complainant made homosexual advances towards his client.

John O'Donald Fox, of Bridle Hill, Smith's Parish, pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court yesterday to attempting to murder 46-year-old Michael O'Brian on November 2, 1993.

He also denied assaulting him with intent to commit robbery and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

O'Brian sustained a knife wound to his arm, elbow and the left side of his stomach which damaged his intestines and caused multiple wounds to his pancreas.

Consultant surgeon Dr. Terence J. Elliott told the court O'Brian had a cut that was two and a half inches long on the outside and four inches long on the inside which was consistent with the knife moving up and down while inside him.

O'Brian took the stand yesterday and said that on November 2 last year he first saw Fox when he came into his workplace asking to see the office manager.

"Fox asked if the manager could be contacted so I called his beeper number and the manager called right back,'' O'Brian told Crown counsel Mr. Stephen Harrison.

"I told him that someone was in the office looking for him and he told me to tell him he would be back in two hours. Later I found out that Fox had wanted to borrow some money from him.

"After 10 p.m. that night, when I was in my Langton Lane apartment I heard a knock at the door and I answered it.

"When I open the door I noticed that it was the same Mr. Fox that I had seen in the office earlier.'' O'Brian added that Fox told him that they had met earlier that day and I said yes at my office.

"He told me he was looking for a man named Thompson and he wanted to know if I knew where he lived.

"I told him I didn't know and we decided that we would go into my apartment and look in the telephone directory.

"We were standing fairly close and I was looking in the directory when I felt a blow to the side of my head which knocked me over.'' He added that until that time he and Fox had had a perfectly amicable relationship.

"I was on my back and he told me to give him money, I was feeling woozy but I thought the best course of action, due to his size, was to tell him to take what he wanted.

"I felt more blows to my body and then I struggled with him to get to the door. I was then able to get help from my neighbour.

"I was terrified, I knew I was hurt but I was not aware that I was stabbed.'' He added that the next thing he remembered was the arrival of an ambulance and the Police.

O'Brian spent seven weeks in King Edward VII Memorial Hospital and is still receiving treatment for injuries.

Lawyer Mr. Archie Warner, representing Fox, told O'Brian that when Fox was in the office discussing his "desperate'' financial difficulties with him, he offered to help and invited him to his house.

"You share your apartment with your landlord, do you live as man and wife?'' Mr. Warner asked.

"I suggest to you that you are homosexual and you invited Fox there because of your homosexual intentions.'' O'Brian denied being gay and told Mr. Warner that he and his landlord were just friends.

"The landlord was away and you asked him to come because you needed male companionship.'' O'Brian said he was not expecting Fox at his house that night and that it was coincidence that the person he saw earlier that day showed up at his house that night.

Mr. Warner said: "I suggest that you were expecting him, and that was why you let him in your apartment with such ease.

"You expect us to believe that it was a coincidence that of all the thousands of houses in Bermuda he appears on your doorstep that night.

"The reason he came close to 11 p.m. was because you told him your routine that night.

"You were not aware that he came because he was desperate for money?'' Mr. Warner added: "Shortly after the telephone book argument ensued you made homosexual overtures towards the defendant and he told you that he was not into all of that.

"You told the defendant that if he was really desperate he would do anything for the money.

"A pushing match started between the two of you and you told him to leave your house.'' O'Brian denied making homosexual advances towards Fox and said that after he felt the blows he did not remember him taking any money.

Mr. Warner said: "When you went next door for help you said someone had been in your apartment and beat you up, but in fact in your mind it was a potential homosexual partner that had beat you up.'' The trial continues today before Puisne Judge the Hon. Mrs. Justice Wade.