A TRAINEE soldier accused of trying to stab a comrade in the head has told a court martial he wanted to scare him to get him to leave him alone.

Private James Farrell, 18, said he plunged a knife into the bed of Rifleman Curtis Horbury so hard that it went through the mattress, into the bed frame and sent a shockwave back into his arm.

Rifleman Farrell said he had been bullied by his roommates at Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire and that Rifleman Horbury was the "ringleader".

Commander Douglas Ward, prosecuting, said the knife was aimed at the head and neck region of Rifleman Horbury, who was lying in bed texting, and he had to roll out of the way to avoid the blow.

Rifleman Farrell, who was with the 2nd Infantry Training Battalion at the time, denies attempted murder.

He told Tuesday's hearing at Colchester Garrison in Essex that he started his training at Catterick Garrison in September 2016 and was bullied "nearly the whole time" he was there.

He said he was verbally abused, physically struck "a few times" and that his roommates would throw rubbish including half-empty Coke cans into his bed space.

On the day of the incident, other trainee soldiers were "ripping into him" for wearing the wrong uniform on Remembrance Sunday and they asked questions about his home background after he said he did not get the grades to become an Army medic, the court heard.

Rifleman Farrell, who appeared before the court in full uniform, said he went outside to calm down on the evening of November 13. He said while he was in the smoking shelter he decided to punch Rifleman Horbury when he went back inside.

"When I went back in my intention was to punch him as I was getting tired of being bullied," said Rifleman Farrell, who is from Halifax.

He told the court he had his knife in his pocket and when he got back into the dormitory he saw Rifleman Horbury's face.

"He had his smirk out," said Rifleman Farrell. "I lost it, pulled out the knife, stabbed it in his bed."

He said the knife was in his right hand and his left hand was on the bed.

"It was my kind of safety thing," he said. "It's like in bayonet training where you stab the dummy.

"It's so you know nothing else will get hurt."

He agreed with Vice-Judge Advocate General Michael Hunter that he had used his left hand "like a border".

Asked what he had been thinking, Rifleman Farrell said: "Just to scare him, get him to leave me alone."

Asked if he had any intention to hit Rifleman Horbury with the knife, he said: "No".

He said that afterwards he stepped back and told Rifleman Horbury: "Let that be a warning to you."

He denied, under questioning from Commander Ward, that the earlier discussions had been "banter".

Rifleman Farrell said: "No, I was being bullied. I said nothing back to them and, if I did, they would rip into me even more."

On Monday, the hearing was told about the "heated discussion" which led to Rifleman Farrell initially leaving the dormitory.

Questioned by Brian Russell, defending, Rifleman Horbury said his involvement was banter and not bullying, and was "friendly as it's two way".

"There's that line where banter does get to bullying but Farrell never said I was bullying," he said. "If he said 'that's a bit harsh' it would stop."

He said Rifleman Farrell returned into the dormitory, which had its main light off and the curtains drawn, minutes later in the early hours of November 14.

He said he became aware of Rifleman Farrell's silhouette in the doorway but continued to text on his mobile phone until he heard the "click of a knife" opening around a metre from his bed.

"He brought the knife up and went to strike me," said Rifleman Horbury.

"When I saw his hand go up I rolled towards the wall and came off the bed directly as I was lying and that's when everyone came over to see what happened."

Asked where he thought the knife would hit, Rifleman Horbury said: "My head. That's where the arm went."

He continued: "I was like 'what are you doing? Why me?'

"I wasn't in the argument when it was getting aggressive.

"He pointed the knife at me and said 'let that be a warning'.

"I just carried on saying 'why me? Why no-one else?'

"He was just like 'you've bullied me for the last 12 weeks' but no-one bullied each other. We all got on."

In cross-examination, Rifleman Horbury accepted Rifleman Farrell had time to use the knife again before another soldier intervened but he did not.

Rifleman Horbury added: "These nights would happen quite a bit throughout the course but nothing like that had ever happened before."

Rifleman Scott Bacon, a trainee soldier who also shared the dormitory, told the court he got off his bed and "grabbed" Rifleman Farrell afterwards, asking him what he was doing.

"He said 'I really don't care, he's been bullying me for three months'," said Rifleman Bacon.

The trial, before a board of five military officers, continues.