A 47-YEAR-OLD man has gone on trial accused of repeatedly punching another man in the head and biting his cheek in an alleged unprovoked attack outside a St Helier pub.
Simon Livingstone is said to have attacked the man outside the Earl Granville in Charles Street on the evening of 14 July last year. He denies one charge of grave and criminal assault.
On Monday 20 May, on the first day of a trial in the Royal Court, the alleged victim said he and his wife had been attending a wake in the pub and had left at around 9pm.
He said he had known Mr Livingstone for five or six years and admitted that in the past they had had “a few cross words, but nothing to talk about”.
However, he told the court that the alleged attack that evening had happened without warning.
Answering questions from Crown Advocate Luke Sette, prosecuting, the alleged victim said: “I felt something hit me on one side of the face.
“I ended up lying in the street on my back. Somebody jumped on top of me and started punching me in the face.
“I didn’t know what was happening. Then, once I saw his face, I realised it was Mr Livingstone.
“My front teeth were loose and I had a bite mark to the side of my face.”
He said Mr Livingstone ran off afterwards – Mr Livingstone was arrested on 2 August.
Advocate Mike Preston, defending, asked the alleged victim: “There was no reason he assaulted you out of the blue?”
He replied: “Absolutely not.”
The advocate pointed out that he had said in his original police statement that he had a cut to his cheek, and not a bite mark.
The alleged victim replied: “I thought it was a cut to start off with, but once I saw the photo it was as clear as daylight that it was a bite.”
The advocate also said Mr Livingstone had bumped into the alleged victim’s wife on the way out of the pub, and suggested: “You saw red and you punched him first. You came up with this story about him biting you and that made it more serious.”
He replied: “No.”
The alleged victim’s wife also gave evidence, saying that Mr Livingstone had stumbled into her as he left the pub, pushing her against a glass door,
and added: “He leapt on my husband’s back.”
She added: “I took hold of Mr Livingstone’s clothes to try to pull him off my husband, but he got up and with his momentum I fell.”
Advocate Preston asked her: “Why didn’t you tell the police that Mr Livingstone had bitten your husband?”
She replied: “His face was quite swollen and it wasn’t obvious to me initially that it was a bite.”
The advocate said: “Mr Livingstone bumped into you and your husband saw red.” She replied: “No he didn’t. He had his back to me.”
The trial is expected to last two more days. Commissioner Sir Michael Birt is presiding.
