A Toronto man accused of killing his wife testified at his trial on Friday that he was waiting for his day in court to offer his version of events and say he killed her in self-defence.

Peer Khairi is charged with second-degree murder.

He has admitted to killing his wife, Randjida, by stabbing her and slashing her throat in March 2008.

But it was only during testimony earlier this week that he said he stabbed her in self-defence.

On Wednesday, Khairi said his wife tried to attack him.

On Friday, under cross-examination — and speaking through an interpreter — he said, "I totally lost my control when she came at me with a knife. I was injured. The foul words she was using were extreme. I was scared for my life."

Khairi told the jury trial that the reason he's only saying all of this now is because he was waiting for his trial to tell the full story.

The Crown has argued Khairi was enraged with his wife and his children for adopting more liberal, western values when they came to Canada from Afghanistan.

Crown attorney Amanda Camara asked about his thoughts on Randjida's background.

"You consider Randjida to come from a lower class?" Camara asked.

"She came from a family with lower moral values." Khairi responded.

Camara suggested he felt that way because Randjida's mother had been married three times.

"A woman who's had two men divorce her, she's not a proper woman," said Khairi.

"I'm going suggest that right now, in 2012, you're still very angry with Randjida," said Camara.

"If you released me right now, I would go directly to her grave," he answered.

Closing arguments in the trial are expected next week.