A Supreme Court trial of a man accused of attacking a taxi owner with a machete continued yesterday – despite the absence of the defendant and his lawyer.

Stephen Gladstone Thompson, 27, was charged with chopping Neville Andre Greene in the neck on April 29, over funds owed through a business deal.

The trial began last week Monday but was adjourned on Tuesday due to legal matters. It resumed yesterday with Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves telling the jury: "You will notice in the dock, the defendant is no longer there. I'm sure he's alive, but he's absent."

He told the jury not to speculate about where the defendant might be because "people sometimes are absent for all kinds of reasons".

The final witness for the prosecution was emergency medicine specialist Phillip Jones, who said he treated an eight-centimetre laceration on the left of the 42-year-old's neck, and gave him six stitches. Dr. Jones explained the wound went through all the layers of the skin and fat down to the muscles, but wasn't life threatening. "Any wound to the neck is taken quite seriously. There are a lot of vital structures that go from your neck to your head," he explained. Asked by Crown prosecutor Takiyah Burgess what vital structures are, Dr. Jones said: "You kill people by chopping their heads off. It's very obvious."The jury next heard a taped Police interview with Thompson where the Pembroke resident said he did not attack Mr. Greene, but that his actions were made in self-defence. On the tape, Thompson said he had been driving a taxi for a man named Willis Smith who he initially thought was Mr. Greene. He admitted he had signed a contract saying he would pay $80 a week to continue. Thompson explained during the interview that he drove the cab for about four months and came up short a few times however he said he had the money to give to Mr. Greene. He said he turned in the taxi and was served with court documents for the money he owed to Mr. Greene a couple months later. He said he would have given him the money but never saw him. On the day in question, Thompson said he saw Greene washing the taxi and went over to him with his uncle, who wasn't named in court. "He got all hot headed and said, 'You have to go to some lady'. He walked to the back of his car and pulled out a baseball bat. I pulled out a knife from work in self-defence. I never attacked him or nothing," he said. The taped interview continued with Thompson saying he had told Mr. Greene he knew he was cheating on his wife and was going to tell her. He said he then walked away from the situation but saw Mr. Greene approaching him from behind. He said Mr. Greene pushed him in the chest and then raised the bat as if to strike him. "I lifted my hands and did a little self-defence move with my blade," he said. Thompson explained he stayed in the area and waited for Police to arrive but when they didn't he left. He said: "If I would have known he came and gave a statement I would have came and gave mine. It wasn't the intention for me to cut him. I didn't know I cut him. It was all a self-defence matter."The trial continues today.