JURORS in a cold-case murder trial have heard a statement from a woman, who has since died, describing how she was almost killed in the 1990 attack in St Saviour.
In a police statement taken from her hospital bed six days after the incident, Emma Anton, who had been staying with her niece Barbara Griffin at the time, described a man pinning her to her bed and attacking her.
Rickie Tregaskis (52) denies the murder of Mrs Griffin and the attempted murder of Mrs Anton.
Both women were stabbed.
Mrs Anton has since died, but gave a statement to the police from hospital on 8 August 1990 which was read out in court.
She said that in the early hours of 2 August she had been dozing in bed. Her statement read: ‘I heard what I can only describe as a scuffling sound. At first I thought it was the cat.
‘The scuffling went on long enough and was loud enough to wake me up from my doze. Then I felt a weight on the bed and on my legs.
‘I pulled myself up and saw it was a man. I shouted “Barbara” and I was trying to push him away.
‘He put his left hand across my mouth to stifle me. It felt like he was hitting and punching me. I don’t know how many times but it was several. He tried to put his other leg over me. I thought he was going to try to rape me.
‘I tried to pull my knees up and the next thing I knew I had slipped off the bed.’
Mrs Anton said she managed to leave the bedroom and, in her statement, added: ‘Then I saw Barbara. She looked really strange. She stood there like a statue, staring at me.
‘I realised I was bleeding badly. I felt very weak.
‘The last thing I remember was the phone being picked up and Barbara saying a few words very slowly.’
Police and ambulances arrived and the two women were rushed to hospital but Mrs Griffin died.
The court was also read a statement from a neighbour, Tracy Carré, who was in bed but still awake at 2am that morning. She said: ‘All of a sudden I heard a scream. It was a high-pitched scream.
‘Then I heard a second scream, and I heard someone shouting “Help. Help! Murder!”
‘I saw a man. He appeared to be running on his tiptoes. This person was, I would say, just short of six feet. He had light-coloured hair, his hair was short. He was a medium-sized bloke.
‘He was as far as I could see naked. He wasn’t wearing a shirt or trousers. He was carrying a bundle of clothes. He ran across the road in the direction of my flat. I didn’t get a good look at his face.’
Another neighbour who appeared before the court, Terence Quinn, said he had been woken at around 2am that morning by a scream. He said: ‘It sounded bad. I got out of bed and went to the window.
‘I saw this guy running across the road. He just had some boxer shorts and socks on and he was carrying some clothes. It was pretty quick.’
He added: ‘It’s a night I’ll never forget. It was horrendous.’
Another neighbour said she had seen a naked man coming along an alleyway near her home at the time.
Solicitor General Matthew Jowitt, prosecuting, asked her why she didn’t give evidence when Mr Tregaskis first stood trial for the offences in 1991 – and was acquitted.
She said: ‘I was a young mum, I had a business, I had a lot going on in my life. I didn’t want to give evidence and for him to be found not guilty and come after me.’
Advocate Rebecca Morley-Kirk, defending, questioned how she could be certain the man she had seen was Mr Tregaskis, saying: ‘Thirty years on you’re not sure, are you?’
The witness replied: ‘Not 100%, no.’
The trial continues.
