Police Station and told the officer on duty: "I need to be arrested.'' The officer, P.c. Hataya DeSilva, yesterday told Supreme Court: "I noticed this man had a red substance on his face, hands and clothing.'' She added he also appeared "very upset''.

P.c. DeSilva was testifying in the trial of 25-year-old Carlton Byfield who is charged with attempting to unlawfully cause the death of his wife, unlawfully wounding her with the intent to do grievous bodily harm and unlawfully wounding her on February 8.

P.c. DeSilva continued: "At this time I received information that Policemen were in search of a black male that had been involved in a disturbance.'' She said she left her office and opened a door to the jail area and told Byfield to follow her.

"He walked toward me and I saw a machete in his right hand. The machete had a red substance on it that appeared to be blood.

"I asked the man to hand the machete to me and he handed it to me.'' Under cross-examination by Byfield's lawyer Archie Warner, she said she was not afraid of the armed man because he appeared docile.

P.c. DeSilva said she arrested and cautioned the man on suspicion of attempted murder.

She added Byfield said he did not know what had happened.

"He sat down in a chair and said, `What did I do -- she's messing with my head'.

"He looked at me and sobbed and put his face in his hands,'' she continued.

Byfield was processed and P.c. DeSilva said she handed him over to two other officers.

During the time she spent with Mr. Byfield, she continued, there was "no fussing and no fighting''.

Earlier P.c. Ian Jamieson testified he was on duty on February 8 when a call came in at 2.47 p.m. stating a stabbing had taken place at a Princess Street apartment.

When he arrived at the scene, he continued, he went in the door of Victoria Terrace's Apartment Four and saw blood-covered Sherrylynn Byfield kneeling in a pool of blood in the hallway.

He said her thumb was "nearly amputated'' and she had lacerations to the front and back of her head to which he and another officer applied first aid.

"She began to shake uncontrollably and began to drift into a state of unconsciousness.'' Shortly afterward an ambulance arrived and the woman was taken to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

The trial before Puisne Judge Mr. Vincent Meerabux will continue on Monday.

Lawyer Charlene Scott appears for the Crown.