The owner of a Chinese takeaway restaurant in Ipswich has denied losing her temper with a kitchen worker shortly before he attacked her with a cleaver.

Giving evidence at Ipswich Crown Court Linda Tian, who owned the New China restaurant in Garrick Way, denied kicking things round the kitchen and grabbing Lianjun Sun’s jumper and hair because she was angry at the way he was cutting up vegetables.

Cross-examined by defence counsel Martyn Levett, Ms Tian said she wouldn’t have done that as she was scared of Sun following an incident a year earlier when she claimed he had grabbed her throat and pinned her down on the ground.

“You were cursing him, nagging him and telling him he was useless and calling him a senseless fool,” said Mr Levett.

Miss Tian accepted that she had criticised Sun for the way he was cutting up vegetables into different size pieces instead of making them all the same size but denied losing her temper with him.

She claimed that Sun told her he was going to kill her before attacking her with a cleaver.

She denied a suggestion by Mr Levett that she was a “perfectionist with exacting standards that were too high to attain” and that she would shout at her employees.

Miss Tian said that as the owner of the restaurant she had high expectations of her staff but denied that in the past she had thrown boiling water and flicked oil at Sun.

Sun, 51, of Cromer Road, Ipswich has denied attempting to murder Miss Tian on November 1 last year but has admitted a less serious charge of wounding her with intent to cause her grievous bodily harm.

It has been alleged that Sun delivered two “massive” blows to 50-year-old Miss Tian’s neck.

One of the blows caused an injury measuring 12cm from the midline of her throat to her left ear and the other blow to the back of the neck fractured the top of her spine.

The court heard that the second blow missed fully severing her spinal column by 1mm and that “severe” force would have been required to inflict the two injuries.

Two off-duty members of staff in an adjacent flat were alerted by Ms Tian’s screams and carried her from the restaurant kitchen to near their front door where she was assisted by passers by and paramedics before being taken to hospital.

She subsequently underwent two operations and remained in the critical care unit for some time.

The trial continues today (Wed).