a switchblade.

Wesley Tucker, 29, said he felt like a son towards Terry Lee Pitt, 35, who gave him an eight-inch gash from his temple to his neck that needed 40 stitches.

"He's like a father to me and his wife's like a mother to me,'' he said.

"Our relationship is not as close as it used to be, but the love is still there for me.'' Tucker was speaking in Supreme Court as Pitt, of Queen Street, St. George's, was before Puisne Judge the Hon. Mrs. Justice Wade for sentencing.

Pitt had admitted wounding Tucker and possessing a flick-knife at the Moonglow Club, St. George's on March 8.

Crown Counsel Mr. Stephen Harrison said Pitt got into a fight, but the brawl was broken up by Tucker and another man. Back in the club, Pitt got into an argument with Tucker about a stereo owned by Pitt.

Pitt was told to leave the bar, which he did. But when Tucker left, he was slashed once by Pitt, said Mr. Harrison.

His temporal artery was cut and his carotid artery could be seen pulsating.

Witnesses had said Pitt was drunk and aggressive that night.

Mr. Harrison said when Pitt was questioned by Police he said Tucker had come up behind him as he was fighting, and he had lashed out at Tucker, not knowing who he was.

Pitt then said the fight and the slashing may have been two separate incidents, but later returned to his original account.

He had the knife for protection, he told Police.

Pitt, a father of two children aged nine and 16, had no previous convictions for violence.

Mr. Harrison said: "It is sad that in these islands there is far too much resort to weapons in the course of disagreements.

"Frequently a weapon is picked up and used on the spur of the moment. But this is not the case here.

"Rather, this accused had with him a weapon which by its very nature is designed as a weapon and has no other purpose.

"That Mr. Tucker survived this very serious assault is no credit at all to Mr. Pitt. It's a matter of good luck for the two of them that Mr. Tucker wasn't killed.'' Pitt deserved prison, Mr. Harrison said.

But Pitt's lawyer, Mr. Richard Hector, said this was an exceptional case and his client should get an alternative sentence.

He produced letters testifying to Pitt's good character, including one from Lady Spurling, widow of former House of Assembly Speaker Sir Dudley Spurling.

And he called Gosling Brothers managing director Charles Gosling as a witness that Pitt was a trustworthy employee in his job as a painter and maintenance worker.

"I find this offence to be completely out of character,'' Gosling said. "I have found him to be a fairly quiet-spoken, thoughtful character, somebody who would rather talk through a situation rather than resort to physical means.'' Tucker, of Hidden Valley, St. George's, told the court he had known Pitt all his life.

He was a "wonderful guy'' who had helped young men get work and find their feet.

But when he had been drinking excessively he was "totally different''. "You can see for yourself,'' he said, gesturing to his scar.

He could forgive the attack but not forget, he said.

Mr. Hector said Pitt had been drinking heavily throughout the day before the attack. He did not have any quarrel with Tucker, but towards someone else. The sole cause of the incident for "this normally mild-mannered man'' was the drink he had taken.

The only reason he had struck out at Tucker was because of his state of mind after drinking. He had not inflicted any other wounds.

Pitt was now going to alcohol counselling, he said.

Mrs. Justice Wade said she wanted to consider previous legal cases, and remanded Pitt on bail until today.