A jealous husband who started a knife fight outside a pre-wedding party says he felt threatened by a man who offered his wife a cigarette lighter, a court has heard.
George Chambour, 28, was offended when his wife asked another man for a cigarette lighter outside the Grand Royale Function Centre in Granville on September 21, 2012.
"Are you picking up my wife?" Chambour asked the man, who said he was not.
Chambour says the man then gripped his hand in a handshake and would not let go.
"I felt intimidated so I lashed out," Chambour told his sentencing hearing at Parramatta District Court.
"The way he approached me...I thought he was going to throw a punch at me."
But it was Chambour who threw the first punch and soon a brawl began in which it's alleged he stabbed three men, court documents show.
At one point Chambour's wife, who was hitting one of the victims with her purse, was hit in the face.
Chambour, who has pleaded guilty to several assault charges, admitted that he was handed a knife at some point during the brawl by an unknown man he does not remember.
His brother-in-law Elie George Akkawi, 21, who fought on Chambour's side, stabbed one of the victims in the back twice and collapsed his lung.
The victim underwent surgery and spent six days in hospital recovering from his life-threatening injuries.
Akkawi pleaded guilty to wounding a person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
After viewing the CCTV footage of the fight in court, Judge Andrew Colefax said he was surprised more people were not hurt.
Judge Colefax wanted clarification on why the short exchange between the men was threatening to Chambour.
"I don't see how the exchange could lead to act of intimidation and I need to be helped with that."
The sentence hearing for both men will continue on April 14.
