GBH trial over attack

ARUNCORN man has told a trial he urged his female friends to flee and shouted ‘he’s going to kill us’ as he was beaten bloody and dizzy with a table leg in a flurry of violence that left four injured in an Old Town back yard.

Anatolij Krasnobryz, 31, of South Road, denies causing wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) over the incident, and has claimed he acted in selfdefence and defence of property. Krasnobryz is alleged to have turned violent and attacked Martin Theobold shortly after they had left Bar Bananas on High Street and also struck out at two friends who came to Mr Theobold’s aid, Lorna Cairns and Sadie Bond. Brett Williamson, prosecuting, told the court trouble sparked after a night out in Runcorn during the early hours of July 16, 2016.

He said Mr Theobold had been out in Bar Bananas with others and had been socialising with Krasnobryz and at around 2am, the Lithuanian national’s girlfriend Neringa Rapolaite, formerly of Grove Street, invited some or all of the group of friends back to the house on Grove Street she shared at that time with Krasnobryz just off Waterloo Road.

A short time after the women left, Mr Theobold and his friend Adrian Johnson followed on to Grove Street, and then Krasnobryz last, with CCTV to be produced during trial showing that order. Mr Williamson said that although there are ‘some inconsistencies’ in the descriptions of what happened and all the witnesses had consumed alcohol, ‘things took a turn for the worse’ upon arrival at the house.

At some stage, Krasnobryz, Mr Theobold and Mr Johnson were at the back of 19 Grove Street, and Krasnobryz ‘picked up a metal table leg about twofeet in length from his back yard and started swinging it about at the two men’ and then ‘ quite deliberately started to hit Martin Theobold about the head and upper body’ inflicting ‘really serious injuries’. These included a ‘deep laceration to his head and deep laceration to his hand, completely severing tendons in his finger or hand’ and nerve damage.

It is alleged Krasnobryz then hit Mr Johnson, injuring his shoulder and wrist, and that when Sadie Bond and Lorna Cairns came to their aid, Krasnobryz split Miss Cairns’s lip with a blow to the face.

Co-defendant Rapolaite, 26, then of Grove Street, is accused of then committing ABH by pick- ing up a metal pole, possibly a washing line pole, ‘waving it aggressively’ and hitting Miss Bond, causing bruising, and also threatening ‘to stab them’.

The group of friends then fled, but Mr Williamson said CCTV would show Krasnobryz then walking along Waterloo Road ‘in possession of a weapon’, which the prosecution claimed showed he was ‘looking for them to assault them’. When arrested, Krasnobryz had blood on his hands and blood-stained clothes.

A police constable found the alleged wooden-clad metal table leg used as a weapon and an upturned damaged table in the defendant’s back yard, which had Mr Johnson’s blood on it, Mr Theobold’s blood also and also the defendant Krasnobryz’s finger prints.

In interview, Krasnobryz told officers he had lost track of his girlfriend, who had the house key, and when he arrived home found Mr Theobold kicking the back door, and that Mr Theobold then pushed and punched Krasnobryz, and picked up a plastic pipe and started to hit him.

This prompted him to strike out in defence with the table leg, he said, and continue swinging out as a ‘larger male’ appeared and others, claiming he would not hit a female but ‘it was dark’.

When Rapolaite was interviewed she said she had invited some women back to her and her boyfriend’s house and when they went round the back she saw ‘Martin Theobold kicking the back door then striking Krasnobryz by picking up sticks from the floor’ and that during the course of events, ‘ everyone was fighting’, and she acted in self defence.

Giving evidence in person, Mr Theobold said he had drunk 10 pints and one shot that night after visiting The Barley Mow, Ferry Boat and Bar Bananas, but that he felt ‘just normal’ and that the lager was Fosters so not strong.

He said he had been playing pool and enjoying speaking with someone he thought was a ‘Polish bloke’, who transpired to be Krasnobryz, and that gradually everyone drifted in small groups to the house on Grove Street.

Mr Theobold said he helped Krasnobryz find it but when upon entering the yard, Krasnobryz became a ‘ changed person’, picked up a ‘tool’ from the window sill and swung at him, missing the first time but connecting the second, leaving him ‘dizzy’ and ‘stumbling back’ before falling into bushes, and asking Krasnobryz ‘why are you doing this?’. He said he could not remember if he pushed him at that point but said he pushed or kicked the defendant during the incident.

Mr Theobold said: “I must have been in a daze, I looked up and saw him come over me with this blade. I put my hands up... I think I grabbed hold of it and pulled it back and he hit my hand and split my hand open. I was telling him to stop, ‘why are you doing this?’” Mr Theobold said he told the women to run and shouted ‘he’s going to kill us’, but that the women helped to push him over a wall or gate out of harm’s way.

Augustine Okuvurumbairo, defending Krasnobryz, challenged those versions of events and probed Mr Theobold on his alcohol consumption and claimed he had the running order wrong in which the group proceeded to the house.

Krasnobryz denies GBH and two counts of ABH. Rapolaite denies ABH. Proceeding.