The boss of a Herne Bay nightclub told how being stabbed in the stomach by a knife-wielding punter outside his venue “felt like a punch.”

Vivid owner Karl Ahmad alleges Anthony Ridge plunged the blade into his bowel during a row in the early morning.

But Ridge, 44, will claim he acted in self-defence disarming Mr Ahmad who brandished the blade, Canterbury Crown Court heard.

Mr Ahmad told a jury he realised the seriousness of his injury only when onlookers said: “You’ve got blood all over you.”

He explained Ridge was among a group of revellers ejected from the nightspot in Herne Bay, High Street.

Bouncers threw the suspect out at closing time after he became embroiled in a row with another clubgoer inside the venue, Mr Ahmad claimed.

When he went outside to defuse a row one woman punched him in the face, prompting Mr Ahmad to push her.

“Then I felt something but at the time I didn’t know what it was...”

The woman “may have fell on the floor,” he told the jury.

“Then I felt something but at the time I didn’t know what it was,” he continued.

“It felt like a punch.”

“Where did you feel (it)?” prosecutor Andrew Hallworth responded.

“In my stomach. I sort of fell and moved backwards.”

“What happened to the man?” Mr Hallworth asked

“He was restrained by people I was restrained as well. I fell back into a customer’s arms.”

The court heard off-duty police officers treated Mr Ahmad at the scene before medics rushed him to a hospital where he stayed for six days after having major surgery.

Witnesses would tell officers they heard the defendant yelling “I don’t care who he is.”

They added Ridge was also heard shouting “I’m a Richardson I will do what I like” and “I will kill him,” the court heard.

“He was restrained by people I was restrained as well. I fell back into a customer’s arms...”

Mr Ahmad told the jury claims he was carrying and flourished the blade were “ridiculous”.

The suspect was arrested and gave a no comment police interview shortly after the assault. It happened just before 3am on July 9 in 2017.

Ridge, of Charles Street in Herne Bay, represented by Richard Milne, denies causing Wounding with Intent.

His defence is yet to be heard. The trial continues.

For information on how we can report on court proceedings, click here.

To read more of our in depth coverage of all of the major trials coming out of crown and magistrates' courts across the county, click here.

Read more: All the latest news from Herne Bay