Ben Han was stabbed by his ex partner and says he did not expect to survive.

It felt like a punch to the chest, but as his ex-partner pulled her hand away Benjamin Han saw a bloodied blade. He thought he was going to die.

Han, 35, had just been stabbed by 59-year-old Virginia Maria Beerens​ at the front door of his Christchurch home. They had been in a relationship, but she became jealous when he began seeing another woman.

On the day of the stabbing, Han had been lured home from work after Beerens started a fire in his room.

GEORGE HEARD/STUFF The blade went between Ben Han's ribs, through his lung, cut his pericardium and through the diaphragm.

She approached him in a "very calm manner" before plunging a knife into his chest "in a flash".

READ MORE: Attempted murder accused woman allegedly stabbed ex-partner in front of firefighters

"I thought she had just hit me, just thumped me in the chest, but when she pulled her hand away I saw the blade and the blood on it," he said.

GEORGE HEARD/STUFF Ben Han was stabbed by his partner Virginia Maria Beerens after she set fire to his bed in January.

"I thought, 'Oh my god, I'm actually going to die here', and I remember thinking it was such a stupid way to go."

The blade went between his ribs, through his lung, cut his pericardium and through the diaphragm. His lung then collapsed and he was unable to breathe properly.

Firefighters began to give him CPR and he came back around. He lost consciousness several more times before arriving in hospital where he was placed in an induced coma.

ALDEN WILLIAMS/STUFF Police guard a cordon at a Picton Ave in Christchurch, where Virginia Maria Beerens started a fire, then stabbed her ex-partner.

When police spoke to Beerens, she admitted what had happened and expressed her frustration that she had failed in her attempt to kill the man. However, she refused to say why she wanted to kill him.

ATTEMPTED MURDER IN MOTION

While Beerens had spent the morning of January 22 getting drunk, Han was busy at work.

Shortly after noon Han received a call from his flatmate to say his bed was on fire, and he should come home.

Beerens had travelled from her home in Halswell to Han's workplace to see whether he was at work, and when she saw his car there, she drove to his home in Riccarton.

Han's flatmates knew her from her earlier relationship with him and let her inside, where she went to his bedroom.

She chose personal items that were precious to him – notes and gifts from the other woman he was seeing – and put them in the centre of his bed. She then set them alight using a cigarette lighter, and stood and watched while the fire took hold. "She wanted to destroy all his belongings," Crown prosecutor Chris Lange said in the High Court at Christchurch on Wednesday.

Beerens also took a black flick knife which she knew was precious to Han. She knew he regularly sharpened it.

Shortly after Han received the call, Beerens drove past his workplace again and noticed his car had gone, so she knew he had been told about the fire and had gone home.

Han arrived at the Riccarton home to the smell of smoke and several firefighters standing outside his house.

As one of the firefighters questioned Han about Beerens, she parked her car in a vacant lot next to his house and walked onto the property.

"I just remember one of the firefighters saying 'she's here, she's here'," Han told Stuff on Wednesday.

Beerens walked straight into the house and into Han's bedroom before she was escorted out of the house by a firefighter.

Han, who was at the bottom of the front steps, was looking down the central corridor as Beerens approached.

"At the time I was annoyed, well p.... off that she'd set fire to my room for one, but I didn't think there was going to be a fight or an escalation because we've got the firefighters in attendance."

A 'DYSFUNCTIONAL' RELATIONSHIP

Han and Beerens met in late 2015 through a support group for alcoholics.

"Both of us came from dysfunctional, abusive families where one parent or the other drank and there was oftentimes violence."

The first six months of their relationship was calm and pleasant, but the last 12 months "degraded" to constant fighting, Han said.

There were two incidents where police were called to remove Beerens from his house. A third time in May, Han "unwisely" tried to handle the situation himself and was convicted of assaulting her. Following the incident, Han said the relationship was over.

Beerens pleaded guilty in the High Court at Christchurch on Wednesday to a charge of attempted murder. The Crown then dropped an arson charge.

Han said he was still "pissed off" with Beerens, but understood the same sense of frustration and helplessness that made her lash out.

"At the end of the day the whole thing is a big tragedy and there are no winners from this," he said.

Justice Cameron Mander remanded her in custody for sentencing on October 24, and ordered a pre-sentence report and a victim impact statement.