A stabbing victim could see blood bubbling out of his chest moments after he was knifed in Paceville.

Vasile Cojocaru, a Romanian living in Malta, told a court that the incident would “haunt me for the rest of my life”.

He was testifying yesterday against Joseph Buhagiar, 42, of Vittoriosa, who is pleading not guilty to trying to kill him and his friend George Mendo on November 12 at about 3.30 a.m.

Mr Cojacaru said the incident started when he was standing in the road with his friend Mr Mendo and both their girlfriends, and saw Mr Buhagiar’s partner stepping on some glass as the two were walking out of a nightclub.

The woman, he recalled, looked distressed. The next thing he knew, she grabbed a bottle, broke it and tried to assault his girlfriend Maureen Farrugia, a nurse at Mater Dei hospital.

Mr Buhagiar blocked the woman’s path and Mr Cojocaru tried to protect Ms Farrugia.

The accused then reached into his pocket and stabbed him, the witness said.

The knife punctured his chest and he felt out of breath.

Two bouncers tried to separate them but Mr Buhagiar managed to get past them and hit him again.

He could remember looking down and seeing blood bubbling out of his chest and feeling more knife blows but only afterwards did he find out he had been stabbed eight times.

He still felt pain in his chest and had to be put on a special diet, he said.

The case continues.

Police Inspectors Carlos Cordina and Luke Bonello prosecuted while lawyer Joe Giglio appeared for Mr Cojocaru and lawyer Arthur Azzopardi for Mr Buhagiar.