An accused killer testified in his own defence Thursday that he stabbed a man to death out of self-defence.

It was early in the morning of Jan. 1, 2012 that Shawn Poirier, now 32, encountered 24-year-old Mike Pimentel in Liberty Village after New Year's Eve celebrations began winding down.

Poirier testified at his second-degree murder trial Thursday that it was his first time in Toronto, having driven in with his girlfriend, Sascha Harten, from his hometown of Shediac, New Brunswick. He was carrying a Buck knife that night, as he did all the time, he testified, because it is like a "necessity" living in a wooded area in New Brunswick.

Poirier said he and Harten had partied throughout the night, hopping from bar to bar and drinking alcohol along the way.

After leaving a bar in Liberty Village, Harten had to urinate on the side of the road, Poirier testified.

Harten earlier testified she was urinating behind a planter box, while Poirier insisted Thursday it was a large garbage bin. Poirier said he stood in front of the bin to try to block Harten from view.

That's when Pimentel began yelling at the pair from the sidewalk across the street, Poirier testified.

"To my left, on the other side of the street, coming up the sidewalk, a man starts screaming...He was saying, 'Who do you think you are? What do you think you're doing?'" Poirier said. "I said to him, I said, you know, 'What do you want?'...He continued to scream. He started to come towards us, stepped off the sidewalk."

Poirier testified that he pulled out his knife, hoping it would scare Pimentel off.

"I was showing it to him, telling him, you know, get away from me, get the f*** away from me, leave me alone," Poirier said. "It's like he came at me even harder than he did the first time. He was acting like a psycho."

Poirier testified that Pimentel had pulled his jacket over his head, and because of that, he couldn't tell where he was swinging his knife. Under cross examination by Crown attorney David Boulet, he said he thought he was stabbing Pimentel in the torso and that he knew that stabbing someone in the torso could be fatal.

The jury has already heard that Pimentel was stabbed nine times. He collapsed down the street and later died.

"Shawn, did you intend to kill this man?" defence lawyer Magda Wyszomierska asked.

"Absolutely not, never. I never wanted to hurt him at all," Poirier said. "I was scared. I thought this man was going to kill me. I thought he wouldn't stop."

Boulet countered that Pimentel had been "jerseying" Poirier in pulling his jacket over his head like hockey players sometimes do during fights, and Poirier responded by stabbing him.

While Harten earlier testified that Poirier did not have any injuries following the confrontation, Poirier testified that his eyes were nearly swollen shut and his nose was broken.

He said he insisted on leaving Toronto that day because he figured nobody would believe he acted in self-defence, given his lengthy criminal record. Court heard earlier Poirier had several convictions on his record, mostly for break-and-enter and failing to comply with court conditions.

Boulet questioned whether, given that Poirier thought he wouldn't be believed, he photographed any of his injuries.

"I didn't take any pictures of my black eye, no I didn't," Poirier said.

Cross examination continues Friday.