A WOMAN has told a Royal Court jury she feared for her life after she was allegedly attacked in her home by a visitor.
She made the comments while giving evidence on the first day of the trial of 44-year-old Leon David Chevalier, who is also accused of stealing her medication.
Mr Chevalier denies the charges of grave and criminal assault and theft.
The alleged victim told the Royal Court that Mr Chevalier knocked her to the ground twice, punched her in the right breast and throttled her with both hands before leaving with her prescribed tablets.
She said that she had received a text message from Mr Chevalier in the early hours of 11 June last year, asking for some “cheeky calm-down pills”.
The woman – who takes anti-anxiety and anti-insomnia tablets – told him she could not give him any, but invited him in for a cup of tea.
She said: “I was making tea and the next thing I knew I was talking to myself. He was in my bedroom.”
She said she realised he was looking for her medication and told him to stop. She added: “He grabbed the clothes on my chest and swiped my legs with one foot. I landed on the floor on my right side.
“I was shocked. From his reaction I was pretty sure he had taken my medication.”
The woman got up but said she was knocked down again in the same way. She said: “I fell on my right side again. I was scared. He was looking at me with a cross between a snarl and a smirk. He was finding it funny.”
She got to her feet again and said: “He punched me in my right breast. I was in utter confusion – I was wondering what it was for. Then it was like a switch flicked. He grabbed me around the throat with both hands. I thought he could kill me.”
She said she managed to kick Mr Chevalier in the groin and added: “He dropped to the floor like a lead weight. He said: ‘I’m going, but I’m going to make as much noise as possible and disturb your neighbours.’”
Crown Advocate Luke Sette, prosecuting, asked: “Why did you decide to kick him?”
She said: “There was no deciding. I just didn’t think.”
Advocate David Steenson, defending, asked the victim why she had not phoned the States police sooner after the incident. She replied: “I rent. I didn’t want to be asked to leave because of police presence.”
He said: “You didn’t think he was going to kill you, did you?”
She said: “I would not be here if I did not think he was going to kill me.”
The trial is expected to last two more days.
