Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
WOMAN’S EAR ‘BITTEN BY PARTNER’S SISTER’
Accused ‘wanted to kill me’, court told
A WOMAN needed surgery on her ear after being beaten “black and blue” by the sister of her partner, a court heard yesterday.
She claimed she fled a North Belfast flat after being attacked by the accused and two teenage boys.
The mother of eight sustained a wound to the top of her left ear during the alleged assault in the New Lodge.
Joanna Hanna Gavin, from Helenswood Court off the Stewartstown Road in West Belfast, appeared at Belfast Crown Court yesterday on two charges.
The 41-year-old denies wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and threatening to kill on May 19 last year. She has admitted a charge of wounding.
Two teenage boys – who cannot be named due to their ages – have been accused of assault and causing actual bodily harm. Both deny the charges.
Prosecuting barrister Philip Henry told the jury the injured party was attacked as she visited a friend in New Lodge Place. He said she and the accused “were known to each other” as the woman has been in a relationship and had children with Gavin’s brother. He added she sustained injuries including two black eyes, bite marks on her arm and “the most serious was a bite mark through the top of her left ear”.
Claiming Gavin had “always hated” her, the woman said the defendant overpowered her before grabbing her by the throat as she lay on the ground.
She added: “She said, ‘Die, die’. She didn’t care, she wanted to kill me.”
Gavin told police she had acted in self-defence. The trial continues.