A Pembroke man attacked an acquaintance with a machete after he refused to give him a cigarette.

Ahijah Dill then told Miguel Swan to drop the charges or be killed “next time”.

Dill, 27, was yesterday found guilty in Supreme Court by a majority verdict.

He’d earlier denied wounding Mr Swan with the intention of causing grievous bodily harm, and possessing a bladed article in public.

Dill had chosen to represent himself in the case, which was heard before Puisne Judge Stephen Hellman.

Prosecutor Takiyah Burgess said Mr Swan was attacked outside the Leopard’s Club on January 21, 2012 after Dill asked him for a cigarette.

He’d been sitting in his car smoking at 11pm, and reacted angrily when Dill approached him, the court heard.

Dill walked away but returned a short while later with a machete raised “in the air”.

“He chopped me in my arm,” Mr Swan recalled on the opening day of the trial. “I fell to the ground. Then he chopped me in my neck.”

The victim was chased around the nearby streets before his pursuer dropped back.

Mr Swan said he saw Dill’s face as he was struck with the machete, and as he turned to look back during the chase.

His arms and back were extensively injured during the attack and he required surgery at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for his wounds.

He maintained that he recognised Dill from Turning Point, the treatment group that they both attended, and had seen him around Hamilton over about two years before the incident.

Yesterday the jury debated more than three hours before convicting Dill on all three counts.

Mr Justice Hellman ordered a social inquiry report before sentencing but told Dill that a prison term was “likely”.