At about 4.40pm the defendant arrived and at some point the others also arrived.

“A customer came to pick up his order at 5pm. Mr Hussain went into the kitchen to start packing up the order.

“Bablu asked for the onion bhaji starter. It was not ready and Mr Hussain asked where it was.

“At this point the defendant became angry.

“He then walked towards Mr Hussain with fists clenched.

“The others separated them and they returned to their duties. Mr Hussain gave the customer their order.”

The court heard that Mr Hussain made a remark about him coming to work late and this appears to have been the catalyst for the argument.

“He took quite a long knife with a red handle that was used to cut meat in the kitchen,” Mr Aspinall added.

“He was waving it from side to side and as he did so he threatened to kill Mr Hussain. He used it to hit him and Mr Hussain raised his arms to protect himself.”

Giving evidence via a Bengali interpreter Mr Hussain told the jury he was left in pain from bleeding wounds.

He said Bablu had earlier said, “after work I will deal with you”.

He told the jury he walked towards the defendant because the defendant was swearing at him.

Mr Hussain said: “I went towards him with my hands in a fist. He got me in two places. He was waving it (the knife) and I was trying to grab it.”

During cross-examination by defence barrister Simon Parry, Mr Hussain said he was not the aggressor in the incident and had not struck Babul with a pan.

Mr Hussain told the jury: “There was no question of me hitting him with a pan. I did not attack him, why would I attack him?”

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