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A former UBC student who was charged in connection with the assault of another student in her university dorm testified Wednesday that he had paranoid thoughts in the hours before the attack.

Thamer Hameed Almestadi, 19, said that on Oct. 4, 2016, the day of the attack, he attended a math class but had trouble focusing and thought that his professor was trying to send him a message.

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He told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Margot Fleming that he became distracted, went to the washroom to wash his face and when he returned the professor made a comment about the monster Godzilla that he was concerned might have been directed at him.

Under questioning from defence lawyer Tamara Duncan, Almestadi said that it was not the first time that he thought the math professor was trying to send him a message.

He said that after the math class, he thought he saw the professor outside a Tim Hortons and then saw someone talking on the phone and believed the man was talking to the professor.