WAILUKU — A man said he was backing away from a knife-wielding suspect when he was cornered and stabbed twice at Haliimaile Park, a police detective testified Tuesday.

From his bed at Maui Memorial Medical Center, the victim identified his attacker as Kaikala Young, said police Detective Gregg Katayama.

He and others testified at a preliminary hearing in Wailuku District Court for Young, 26, of Kihei, who is charged with attempted second-degree murder in the stabbing at about 6 p.m. Oct. 13.

Haliimaile resident Kevin Rodrigues, who was in his yard about 50 yards from the park, said he could see two men who appeared to be chasing each other before they eventually ended up in the tennis court.

“One was taunting the other a little bit,” Rodrigues said. “It looked like it was going to be a fistfight.”

While one man was dodging, a taller man “was in an aggressive kind of motion” and cornered the shorter man on the fence, Rodrigues said. “It looked like he gave him two jabs to the ribs,” he said.

He didn’t see any weapons, but heard the shorter man say, “I’m bleeding,” Rodrigues said.

He and others were about halfway to the tennis court when he saw one man leaving and the other bleeding from two puncture wounds. “It looked like almost two pints of his blood,” Rodrigues said.

Wailuku patrol officer John Joaquin arrived at the park to see a woman waving her hands and a man hunched over. “He had blood running down from his chest area all the way down to his feet,” Joaquin said. “His front chest area was saturated with blood all the way down to his slippers like he was standing in it.”

Joaquin got the man to lie down and put a nearby backpack under his head. After lifting up the man’s shirt and seeing a 2-inch laceration or puncture wound under his left breast, Joaquin pressed the shirt against the man’s left chest area, holding his hand over the man’s hand to apply compression.

When the officer asked who did this to him, “he just mentioned Kai,” Joaquin said.

He said the victim recounted how Kai had arrived at the park in a Nissan Altima, got out of the car with a knife, accused the victim of disrespecting him and began chasing him around the park.

As the victim spoke, “he was moaning,” Joaquin said.

The victim’s girlfriend showed the officer a photo of Kai on her cellphone, said Joaquin, who identified Young as the person in the photo.

After firefighters arrived on scene about 10 minutes later and took over first aid with medics, the girlfriend said the victim may have been stabbed on his back, Joaquin said.

He said emergency workers rolled the victim onto his right side and he saw another stab wound on his lower back near his left kidney. The wound on the back appeared to be 3 to 4 inches long and wasn’t bleeding as much, Joaquin said.

He said the girlfriend also reported that Young had dropped the knife, which officers located on a blue tarp about 10 to 15 feet from where the victim was lying. The black knife had a 6- to 7-inch blade that appeared to have blood on it, Joaquin said.

The victim, identified as 32-year-old Thomas Young, who is not related to the suspect, remained hospitalized Tuesday after undergoing surgery last week, said Detective Katayama.

He said Young was confined to his bed and couldn’t get up without help from nurses. “He said it was extremely painful for him to move around,” Katayama said.

He said a doctor who treated Young reported he sustained a punctured left lung and had massive bleeding into his left chest.

During interviews at the hospital beginning last week, the victim said he was arguing with his girlfriend the evening of Oct. 13 when Kaikala Young pulled up in his car and asked,”You got something for me? Where’s my money and why you disrespecting me?” Katayama said.

The victim reported being confused. “He really didn’t say anything because he didn’t know what Kai was talking about,” Katayama said.

After the victim politely said he was talking with his girlfriend and couldn’t talk to Young at the time, “he told Tom, ‘You want me to take care of her?’ and ‘I’ll slit her throat,’ ” Katayama said.

He said the victim wasn’t expecting that reply. “Kai told him, ‘You think I’m joking? I’ll end you,’ ” Katayama relayed.

He said the victim described how Young got out of his car and was holding a black knife with a 6-inch blade. “He said Kai was coming toward him,” Katayama said. “Tom said he was backing up, keeping an eye at all times on the knife.”

From the look in the suspect’s eyes, “Tom knew he was serious,” Katayama said.

He said the victim reported that he continued retreating before being cornered by Young and stabbed twice — first in the left chest, then in the lower left back.

Katayama said the victim is 5-foot-10 and weighs 150 pounds, compared with Young, who was described by police as 6-foot-4.

After fleeing the stabbing scene, Young was arrested the next day in South Maui after vehicle and foot chases, police reported.

Deputy Prosecutor Andrew Martin said the victim’s injuries as well as the defendant’s statements supported the attempted murder charge.

“The defendant was intent on inflicting a great deal of damage to this victim,” Martin said.

Judge Blaine Kobayashi ruled there was sufficient evidence to support probable cause for the charge.

Deputy Public Defender Ben Lowenthal argued for bail to be lowered for Young, saying he could live with his aunt, while the prosecution asked that bail remain at $500,000.

Judge Kobayashi kept bail at $500,000 for Young, who is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 28 in 2nd Circuit Court.

* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.