The attorney for an Ewa Beach man accused of stabbing three men during a road rage incident on the H-1 freeway argued in court Monday that one of the stabbings was committed in self-defense.

District Judge Lono Lee said the self-defense claim was not relevant during the preliminary hearing, which was held to determine whether Mark Char should go to trial.

Lee found probable cause to send Char’s case of second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault to Circuit Court for trial. Char’s next hearing was set for late August.

The defense attorney’s claim, however, gave a glimpse of how Char might defend himself in his criminal trial.

Defense attorney Shawn Luiz said in court that the victim who was stabbed in the abdomen had charged Char and even followed Char after Char sprayed an entire can of pepper spray in his face.

“They should have just drove away,” he said outside the courtroom. “When you pull over to confront someone, something is bound to happen.”

Lee kept bail at $2 million. Char is being held at Oahu Community Correctional Center.

Char is already facing three felony trials, including one for an assault and criminal property damage in a road rage incident in June and another for a terroristic threatening charge after a police standoff in 2013.

Char is accused of stabbing 22-year-old Jesther Marlang, 23-year-old Deion Anunciacion and 58-year-old Jene Winn at about 3:20 p.m. Aug. 1 along H-1’s Waianae-bound lanes before the Kunia exit.

Char appeared in court Monday, clad in a white long-sleeve shirt that said “Handyman Sent by the Lord,” camouflage pants, black slippers and ankle shackles.

Anunciacion, wearing a bandage covering his left hand and forearm, testified that he and Marlang had just finished working out and were heading to Kunia to eat when Char drove up in a red Camaro, cut them off and started “brake-checking” them — making sudden stops to make the vehicle behind slow down.

Marlang stopped in the middle of the freeway because of Char’s behavior, then moved to the left lane and continued driving, Anunciacion said.

Anunciacion looked over at the Camaro’s driver and saw Char gesture as if he were pointing a gun at him with two fingers pointed forward and his thumb up.

He said Char drove past them and tried to brake-check them again.

At that point Marlang pulled off to the shoulder, and when Anunciacion asked if he was upset, Marlang said “no” and that he just wanted to “talk to the guy.”

“I want to know why he would do this to us, and I want him to stop,” Anunciacion said Marlang told him.

Char pulled off the freeway in front of them and started reversing. Marlang, who had already gotten out of the car, tried to stop the Camaro with his hands, but Char struck Marlang’s car.

Anunciacion said he saw Char get out and begin spraying Marlang’s face with a pepper spray can about the size of a spray-paint can.

Anunciacion said he couldn’t find his phone to call police and couldn’t use Marlang’s phone because it required a password, so he went to the red Camaro to ask a woman inside for help, pleading with her, “What are you doing? Please help us!”

The woman looked away and reached for a stick, he said.

Anunciacion said he went back to Marlang, who was on the ground beneath Char with Char biting Marlang’s hand.

Anunciacion tried to break up the struggle and was cut on his left arm.

The third victim, Winn, stopped to help and was also cut on his right hand while trying to intervene.

Another witness, Kaohu Detwiler, testified he saw a spade-shaped knife with a blade about an inch long sticking out of the fingers of Char’s left hand before Char fled in the Camaro.

Marlang and Char wound up exchanging blows on the ground, said Detective Lugene Simeona.

Deputy Prosecutor Mark Miyahira said the self-defense claim would be inappropriate in the case because Char was the initial aggressor and was on top of Marlang, who was not using deadly force when Char was stabbing him.

Char’s attorney argued that a punch can be deadly.

Marlang was taken in critical condition to a hospital. He suffered three stab wounds to his front torso and sustained a sliced kidney and a cut to his arm, Simeona said. Marlang was still recovering at a hospital Monday.