A man who almost died after he was stabbed by his girlfriend has told a jury he believed she wanted to kill him.

Pasquale Mustoe, 33, agreed he had originally declared he could not believe Marcia Francis had done such a thing and that he was upset when he heard she had been charged.

He told police: “With all my heart I know she didn’t want to kill me.”

But he said from the witness box: “If I said that I must have felt it at the time. I don’t believe it any more. I am surprised if I said those things.”

Francis, of Ethelbert Terrace, Westgate, denies attempted murder and an alternative charge of wounding with intent. She admits unlawful wounding.

Maidstone Crown Court has heard the 42-year-old business development manager for a fencing company knifed Mr Mustoe after they argued about his infidelity.

The blade penetrated his neck by six to nine inches, leaving him in need of blood transfusions and other emergency treatment at the QEQM Hospital in Margate.

The former chef suffered a stroke following the “catastrophic” wounding to an artery

John O’Higgins, defending, suggested to Mr Mustoe he told officers he did not want Francis prosecuted.

“I remember saying the law would do the justice,” he replied. “I don’t think I said I didn’t want her punished. If I said it, it was my attitude then.”

Mr Mustoe, now an unemployed sales rep, said he and Francis had many arguments but he could not recall the one before he was stabbed. He accused her many times of infidelity.

His next memory after an argument on September 29 last year, he said, was seeing Francis with a knife in her hand and then having a towel pressed against his neck.

He recalled telling Francis: “Don’t worry. Nothing happened. Please take me to hospital.”

Asked if he remembered Francis “driving like a lunatic” to hospital, he replied: “No, I remember her saying sorry. I don’t have any other recollection about what happened.

“When I came out of the coma and I recovered, flashback came into my mind. I remembered another knife incident in June. When I came out I had so much anger inside me and I felt I should mention this incident as well.”

He said Francis assumed he was having a gay relationship, but he wasn’t.

“I think at the moment if I had died it would have been better than what I am suffering now" - Pasquale Mustoe

Mr O’Higgins told Mr Mustoe: “You clearly are the victim of a very serious injury. Nobody is disputing that. You clearly suffered a terrible injury and then you had a stroke.”

Mr Mustoe said: “I am starting slowly, slowly to recover. I had a lot of help to do that. I had speech problems.”

Asked by the prosecutor how he felt now, Mr Mustoe said: “I think at the moment if I had died it would have been better than what I am suffering now.”

He added: “I am quite sure she wanted to kill me. I said she must have been very angry.”

The trial continues.