AN Iranian accused of trying to kill a fellow countryman in a frenzied stabbing had armed himself with a knife for his own protection, a jury heard.

Soheil Bahmanifard is on trial for the attempted murder of compatriot Amirreza ‘Amir’ Ramezani outside a church-run community centre on Newport’s Stow Hill.

But the teenager said he was “scared" after he was attacked by the alleged victim who insulted his mother outside the Gap centre, run by Bethel Community Church.

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Giving evidence in his defence, Bahmanifard, 18, said he first came to the UK in December 2016 and lived in Cardiff before moving to Newport.

He said a friend introduced him to the Gap centre which provided help to refugees and asylum seekers.

Cardiff Crown Court heard he was granted leave to remain around two months before the incident with Mr Ramezani, which happened just after midday on Friday, June 14.

The jury was told the pair frequented the Gap centre and that there was “tension” and “mutual dislike” between the two men

Bahmanifard told the court he had wrongly believed the centre’s manager Sarah Croft, a married woman, was having an affair with Mr Ramezani.

The defendant said they were upset when he mentioned it and he had apologised to her but not to him about his mistake.

Bahmanifard said he had visited the Gap centre on June 14 and was leaving when Mr Ramezani was coming in and who thought he had deliberately shut the door as he approached.

The defendant, who gave evidence in Farsi through an interpreter, told the jury: “If I had seen him I would have left the door open and let him in.

“Amir disrespected my mother. He called me a son of a b****. My mother was not well. All the members of the church knew about this because I had asked them to pray for her.

“He disrespected my mother and it upset me a lot. I said to him: ‘Shut up and close your mouth.’ Then the fight broke out. He assaulted me.”

The defendant told the jury he was in pain and could see blood by his eye, nose and lip, which made him feel “scared”.

He picked up a knife, he said, but three staff members grabbed him with one telling him to calm down while another took the blade away.

Bahmanifard told how he then went back into the Gap centre kitchen and armed himself again.

He admitted: “I was shocked and scared – and to an extent I was angry – that all this could have happened in such a short space of time.”

His defence barrister Harry Baker asked him: “Why did you want to get a knife?”

Bahmanifard answered: “Because this fight didn’t end there and I wanted to protect myself.”

His barrister said: “What do you mean, it didn’t end?”

The defendant replied: “Amir had put his bag on the floor and he taken off his jacket off and was waiting for me.

“I thought any fight would be carried on. I’m Iranian and he’s an Iranian and because these incidents in our culture happen a lot.

“They fight and go and come back and fight again.

“This is not my country and this culture does not exist here. I made a mistake in that the second time I went out.”

Bahmanifard, of Morden Lane, Newport, denies attempted murder and wounding with intent.

Proceeding.