Cameron Street, 21, denies the offence, which is alleged to have occurred in November 2024.
Crown Advocate Jenny McVeigh said it was not disputed that the complainant’s injuries – which included a broken eye socket – constituted a GBH charge, but the case was centred on whether the defendant had been responsible for it.
The couple had been in a romantic relationship for two years and the woman was a regular visitor to the Street’s home.
The complainant’s evidence was given to the court through a video recording of her interview with police.
She said on the night in question the couple had gone to La Couture Inn for the meat draw. When another man had made a cheeky remark to her she thought her partner did not look happy. She said that in response she had nipped the defendant on his hand with her teeth, as she often did, to make it clear to him that she would be going home with him.
When they returned to the defendant’s home nearby they began arguing in his bedroom. When he swore at her, the woman said she decided to leave. She was sitting on the floor putting things in her rucksack when he struck her three times on the head with a plastic bag that contained rubbish. He then pulled her to her feet by her clothing and punched her with force in the left eye, possibly twice. Her nose was bleeding, her vision blurred, and her ears were ringing.
She called the police and begged the defendant not to hit her again. She placed herself in a gap between the wardrobe and a wall in order to get some protection. The defendant threw his phone against a wall and went outside for a cigarette.
From an upstairs window she saw the police arresting Street outside the house. She then asked officers not to arrest him and said that she had only called them because she was so scared.
There was blood ‘everywhere’ in the room and she was taken to hospital by ambulance. When she left the hospital she returned to the defendant’s home in a taxi to recover her belongings before returning to her own house. Their relationship up to then had been a good one and nothing like that had happened before.
It was later established that she had suffered a fracture to her left orbital floor, the bone beneath the eye socket, which necessitated a visit to Southampton General Hospital.
The defendant was interviewed later the same day, where he exercised his right to remain silent. He denies causing the injuries. The case continues.