A man who subjected a woman to a savage attack before leaving her naked in some secluded woods and making off with her bracelet as a ‘trophy’ denies trying to murder her.
Matthew Stevens, 28, left his victim, who was hypothermic by the time she was found by a dog walker two hours later, with appalling injuries, including facial fractures and a punctured lung.
They had only met for the first time while out in Newcastle city center earlier that evening on March 10 this year.
Jurors at the city’s crown court have heard Stevens admits carrying out the attack and has pleaded guilty to wounding with intent but denies attempted murder.
Gavin Doig, prosecuting, told them they would be shown ‘extremely unpleasant’ body worn camera footage recorded at the scene in woods close to Stevens’ home in Brunswick Village.
He said: ‘The prosecution intends to prove the defendant tried to murder her and in order for you to decide whether we have proved that I’m afraid you have to see for yourself how and where she was left.’
The court heard the woman’s face was ‘grossly swollen’ and badly cut from repeated blows, with one laceration going right through her bottom lip.
In addition to the cuts and fractures, her tongue piercing had also come out and her lung was punctured, the prosecutor said.
Although she has recovered from her physical injuries, jurors were told she would not be giving evidence about what happened to her because she has no memory of what happened.
Mr Doig outlined events leading up to the assault, telling the court she and Stevens had each been out with a friend who happened to know each other, and they got talking at Bobby’s Bar.
The taxi driver who gave them a lift at the end of the night later told police the woman wanted to go home but Stevens directed the minicab to Wideopen.
CCTV footage captured the pair walking close to his home at 3.16pm, before they carried on towards some waste ground. Stevens is then recorded walking alone nearly an hour later, the court heard.
Mr Doig said: ‘We say this is a sustained attack, not a brief loss of temper. 50 minutes is a long time.’
He told jurors there were two crime scenes.
The first was where the woman’s phone and clothes were found, including her damaged bra and ripped knickers, which ‘looked as if they had been rolled down by someone else.
Mr Doig said she was then dragged to the second, in the ‘more concealed wooded area, much further from the road’.
He added: ‘The purpose of moving her, we say, was to continue the attack and, we say, to complete the attack and thinking her body would be less likely to be found or found quickly if it was moved away from the road and in an area of waste ground.’
Jurors heard that at the second scene, the woman’s blood was found on a tree trunk, the pattern of which suggested she had been stamped on while already bleeding heavily.
Stevens’ trainers were also said to have her blood on them, consistent with stamping and kicking into a bleeding area.
There was also blood on his coat consistent with punching her when she was already bleeding, the jury was told.
Police also found the woman’s broken false fingernails, while some of the charms from her bracelet had fallen out. They later found the bracelet hidden inside a pair of socks in Stevens’ wardrobe.
Mr Doig said: ‘We say he intended to kill, and this explains his decision in leading her to a more secluded location and continuing the attack on her.
‘That he believed he had succeeded explains why he took her jewellery and hid it in his bedroom as a trophy or memento of his crime.
‘If he thought she was still alive then his possession of her jewellery would be folly as it would link him to the crime. If she was dead, why not take the jewellery.
‘With her gone, who would be there to say whose it was.’
When Stevens was arrested, he had scratches on his hands consistent with being caused in the undergrowth.
He initially denied responsibility, blaming a man in a red BMW but he has since admitted he was the attacker.
Jurors heard he now says she tried to head over a field, he tried to stop her, they argued, she hit him, and he lost his temper and inflicted the injuries.
However, he denies undressing her or stamping on her and claims she was conscious when he left her.
The trial continues.
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