SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California man says he killed two women with a meat cleaver after a New Year’s Eve party while his wife and son waited in a car outside.

The Orange County Register says Christopher Ireland of Huntington Beach took the stand Wednesday. He's charged with the Jan. 1, 2017, murders of Yolanda Holtrey and Michelle Luke and with setting fire to Holtrey’s Westminster home to destroy evidence.

Ireland testified that he killed the women after Holtrey caught him having sex with Luke while Ireland’s wife and 11-year-old son were in a car parked outside, waiting for Ireland to leave.

He says the women attacked him first.