A WOMAN was left “covered in blood” and “genuinely fearing for her life” after a date with a man she had met online went “horribly wrong”, the Royal Court heard at the opening of a trial yesterday.
Connor James is alleged to have committed a “brutal” and “senseless” attack against the complainant at her St Helier flat last March – just two days after matching with her on the dating app Hinge. He denies charges of grave and criminal assault and malicious damage.
Jurors were told on Monday that the “heavily intoxicated” 34-year-old punched the alleged victim several times in the face and strangled her on her living room floor after she requested that he leave her flat.
It was heard that the complainant sent several “desperate” messages to friends throughout the night as the date spiralled “out of control”, including one that simply read: “Help.”
She was left “helpless” and “covered in blood”, with Mr James smashing her phone and subjecting her to a “serious and prolonged assault” while her young children slept next door, jurors were told.
The defendant was arrested later that morning.
When interviewed by police, he said to officers: “Hitting a female? A bit out of my character, but anything’s possible.”
Wearing a navy blue suit, Mr James appeared at the Royal Court yesterday to stand trial in front of a jury for grave and criminal assault and malicious damage – charges he denies.
In his opening submission, Crown Advocate Matthew Maletroit, prosecuting, described the case as an instance of “online dating gone horribly wrong”.
“With the benefit of hindsight,” he told the jury, “the complainant’s decision to allow the defendant into her home on that fateful night may be the biggest mistake of her life.”
“She had only encountered the defendant’s online persona, she did not know his true character,” he said.
Jurors were read several Hinge messages sent between Mr James and the complainant in the days leading up to the alleged incident.
Their “innocuous” conversation included Mr James telling the complainant he “writes music and songs” and had aspirations to be a “lecturer”.
“What began as a perfectly innocent meeting arranged through a dating app,” continued Advocate Maletroit, “ended with brutal, senseless violence”.
“As [the complainant] lay there with the defendant on top of her, strangling her, and repeatedly punching her in the face, she genuinely feared for her life,” he said.
“She thought that the defendant was going to kill her there and then, as her children lay in their beds just metres away in their bedrooms next door.”
The court heard Advocate Maletroit say that the defendant passed out on the sofa after drinking two bottles of vodka and taking “dihydrocodeine”, an “opiate drug that was not prescribed to him”.
“[The complainant] would not have invited him in if she knew he was going to be like this,” he told jurors. “This was not normal behaviour, the situation had become awkward. It was late and she just wanted him to leave.”
When Mr James woke up, the woman sent her acquaintance a message that stated: “Please, he won’t leave, he is acting like he’ll trash the place and throw a chair.”
“His behaviour [then] became out of control,” Advocate Maletroit added.
“She repeatedly told him to get out. She told him – bravely, you might think – that she would not be threatened in her own home.
“But the defendant refused to leave; he laughed at her, belittled her, and told her he was not afraid of hitting a woman.
“Fuelled by the cocktail of alcohol and drugs in his system, the defendant could not control his temper – his aggression escalated into physical violence.”
The “prolonged and serious” assault that allegedly ensued ended when the complainant escaped and came to the attention of passers-by outside her block of flats.
Jurors were shown pictures taken by A&E staff of the complainant’s bloodied face, and pictures taken by forensic medical examiners of her “trashed” flat.
“You will see that there is blood, a lot of blood,” Advocate Maletroit told jurors. “Blood on the door handle, blood on the walls, blood on the carpets.”
Upon arrest, Mr James informed police that he “had no recollection” of assaulting the alleged victim.
“It’s painful to think I could do such a thing. But who else could it be? The Bogeyman?” he said to officers, later adding: “It all points to me. And it’s like, ‘f***’.”
Telling jurors of what was going through her mind during the alleged attack, the complainant told jurors: “I just kept thinking, how am I going to make this stop?”
The trial was due to continue this morning.
