A festivalgoer told a jury yesterday of how he “struggled to breathe” after being stabbed 11 times at last year’s T in the Park event.
Mark Morrison, 23, a bank worker, said that he was attacked when he attempted to help a female friend who was arguing with a man.
He felt a series of blows to his back, but thought he had suffered a cracked rib, until a friend said that he had been stabbed.
Robert Kidd, 24, from Barrhead, Glasgow, and John Tiffoney, 25, of Cardiff, deny attempting to murder Mr Morris at the music festival at Balado, near Kinross, on July 13.
Giving evidence at the first day of their trial at Dunfermline High Court, Mr Morrison said that he had been watching American rock band Rage Against The Machine’s headline performance at the festival — attended by up to 80,000 people — before returning to his tent with friends.
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He and some others, including a female friend, Ashleigh McComb, were looking at photographs on a digital camera when they heard an argument outside between Laura More, another friend, and a man.
Mr Morrison and Miss McComb went to help, but when Miss McComb told the man “not to talk to her like that”, he spat on her and punched her on the head.
Mr Morrison said he then grabbed the alleged attacker, and a fight broke out. He told the court: “The next thing I knew there was somebody on my back. I assumed it was his friend that was with him.
“I felt blows on my back several times. Then I felt myself struggling to breathe. I got up to try to get myself away. I thought I had been winded or at worst cracked a rib. I walked up by our tent and fell to my knees.”
Mr Morrison said that the man followed him and kicked him to the side of his head before walking away.
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“Two of my friends and someone I didn’t know came over to see if I was OK,” he added. “I didn’t even know I had been stabbed until one of them shouted, ‘he’s been stabbed’.”
The jury was shown photographs of Mr Morrison’s injuries. They included six stab wounds on his back, three on his right side, one on the left side of his mouth and one on his head.
Mr Morrison told the court that he still had a scar on his face as a result of the alleged attack. However, he admitted during questioning that he could not identify his attacker.
The trial continues.