27-year-old accused of slashing man's face allegedly said: 'I am going to take your eyeballs'
A 27-year-old allegedly told a man "I am going to end your life and take your eyeballs," before he slashed his face with a blade.
Details were given to Ballymena Magistrates Court where the defendant is charged in relation to an incident in Antrim on September 8 this year.
Hugh Doherty, with an address listed as Dublin Road in Antrim town, is charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent; possession of an offensive weapon - a knife; and making a threat to kill.
Objecting to bail, a police officer said around 7.30pm police received a report of two males "fighting" near a chip shop at High Street in Antrim.
Police were told a male had "slit the other male across the face with a Stanley Knife". The male with a "slash-type injury to his face was covered in blood".
Police provided first aid. Doherty was arrested and told police a Stanley Knife could be found under a bin down an alleyway.
A police officer said the injured man said the defendant is "his cousin" and "he had been helping Hugh come off drugs" and that the defendant had been in a "bad mood all day".
The injured man said he had been to a chip shop and then to a "sun bed" and when he returned to a vehicle the defendant was inside.
He alleged that after a conversation the defendant hit him in the back of the van and he told police that Doherty told him he would "cut him up" and: "I am going to to cut you up" or "I am cutting you up."
He said Doherty had gone to a took box in the van and pulled out a "Stanley blade" and "slashed him two to three times in the side of the face". The officer said the man alleged the accused said: "I am going to end your life and take your eyeballs from you."
The man said the defendant then "cut him across the face" and he needed "18 stitches" to an injury to his face and stitches to another injury. His arm, finger and chest were also cut, the injured man said.
Doherty told police he was the "victim of a bullying campaign" from the man and he "felt fear for his life" and that the man had said he would "literally kill him". Doherty told police the man slapped him "and he went to the side of the van to retrieve a dog".
The defendant alleged that when he opened the van the man said: "I am going to get in there and I am going to kill you".
Doherty said he picked up the "first object" in the van, a "carpet cutter," and the man came up behind him and said: "Get in there, 'till I kill you."
The defendant said he told the man "get back, get back" to "defend himself" but the man "kept coming at him" and "kept hitting him". He said he had then "touched" the man with the blade. The defendant told police the man had been in "possession of a blade and had cut him".
The officer said CCTV with audio showed a disturbance at a van and the man could be heard saying: "You are cutting me up Hugh."
The defendant was heard to say: "You're dead, you're dead." A defence barrister said the defendant's mental had "deteriorated".
District Judge Nigel Broderick said the allegation was "slashing somebody with a Stanley Knife" and if there was further offending it "could be serious if not fatal".
He said Doherty's mental health appears "fragile and unpredictable" and refused bail. The case was adjourned to November 24.