A Jamaican man will be tried in January for the razor attack of another man at the Devonshire Recreation Club on Friday night.

Clinton Elias Mattocks, 29, of Happy Valley Lane, Pembroke pleaded not guilty to slashing Lincoln George Brown on October 20 with a barber's razor.

Mattocks, who is married to a Bermudian, was offered $2,000 bail with one surety.

Mattocks denies wounding Mr. Brown, possessing an offensive weapon, and violently resisting arrest.

He pleaded guilty to escaping lawful custody.

The appearance was not without incident as Acting Senior Magistrate Edward King set the trial for the afternoon session and then got into a heated exchange with lawyer Peter Farge.

Mr. King called setting down the trial for 2.30 p.m. from the morning plea court session "summary justice at its best''.

He suggested it would not be too difficult to find the witnesses three days after the incident.

Mr. King rejected both Mr. Farge's and Mattock's complaints that the defendant had not been given enough time to fight the case.

"Police officers don't need time to write out their statements,'' he said.

"They can come in and give their statements when they testify.

"Just come right in here and say what they saw. Let's do this now, forthwith, today, immediately!'' Mr. King challenged Mr. Farge on whether he was representing Mattocks, asking "have you been retained'', "are you on the record'' and "if you are retained and on the record then represent him right now''.

Mr. Farge had cited the Bermuda Constitution which he said guarantees "adequate time for the preparation of a defence''.

It was only when Crown Counsel Graveney Bannister asked for an adjournment after Mr. Farge had left the courtroom did Mr. King relent.

Once he had completed the hearing, Mr. King commented: "In Africa, do you know how to tell when there is a wounded animal? "No, not the lions or leopards. The vultures. The vultures circle over the injured animal.'' It is not known if Mr. King was referring to the presence of an Immigration Inspector or about the media.