A horrific account of beatings, fatal stabbings and an alleged attempt to commandeer a Taiwanese fishing vessel on the high seas was presented to a federal jury yesterday in the opening of a trial of the ship's former cook, who is accused of killing the captain and first mate.

Lei Shi, 24, a Chinese national from a small town in the northeast part of the country, is charged with federal maritime counts of committing acts of violence against the captain and first mate and seizing control of the Full Means No. 2 in March 2002.

The charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Brady told the jury Shi stabbed both unarmed men in anger, but defense attorney Richard Pafundi said captain Chen Chung-She and first mate Li Da Feng brutalized the crew members and Shi stabbed both men in self-defense.

"It was a ship from hell," Pafundi said.

The stabbing occurred while the ship was hundreds of miles out at sea, but the ship was brought here by the Coast Guard after the stabbings, and Shi was arrested.

In his opening, Brady told the jury other crew members will provide testimony that Shi was angered by his reassignment from his position as cook to a much harder job of working the fishing lines and by the captain beating him when Shi refused to work on the day of the stabbing.

Brady said the first mate told his brother, a fellow crew member, "This time I'm finished. I have two kids. Take care of them. (Lei Shi) killed me and (Lei Shi) killed the captain. You and the rest of the crew members are in trouble."

"Everyone remained afraid of the defendant," Brady told the jury.

The other crew members later overpowered Shi, tied him up with rope and wire, put him in a storage room, locked the door, welded it shut and posted two crew members as guards so he wouldn't escape, Brady said.

The ship's crew voted to come to Hawai'i, Brady said, and the Coast Guard met the vessel with its crew of more than 30 about 60 nautical miles south of Hilo before escorting the vessel to Honolulu Harbor.

Pafundi told the jury the ship had been at sea for a year when the stabbings occurred.

Although Brady said corporal punishment was used "sparingly," Pafundi said it was inflicted often and brutally. "All we could do is tolerate it," the defense attorney said one of the crew members will say.

The defense lawyer said his client never intended to hurt anyone, but he was left bleeding from the eyes, mouth and nose after the captain beat him. Shi felt betrayed by the captain and first mate and felt he could not depend on anyone, the lawyer said.

That night Shi was summoned to the bridge, where the first mate grabbed a metal pipe as he demanded that Shi apologize to the captain, Pafundi said.

The defense lawyer said the fight was two against one, and Shi survived.

Shi feared the other crew members would retaliate, but he did not seize control of the ship and simply wanted to return to China, Pafundi said.

Shi pleaded guilty in 2004, but was later allowed to withdraw the plea, paving the way for the trial before U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor.

The trial is expected to take about a month.

Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com.