Brutal assault on woman is denied
A young mother told Stirling Sheriff Court how she was beaten and kicked by a gang of five men who burst into her Doune home where she was giving sanctuary to a friend.
Leesa-Marie Myles, 27, claims she was left bruised and with broken teeth after the incident in August last year.
She said she was in her former firstfloor flat in Main Street with Nicola Jane Barr and another female friend when she heard a car screech to a halt outside. She told the court that she knew at once that the vehicle belonged to Miss Barr’s then partner Jamie Wallace.
The court heard that Wallace had earlier dropped Miss Barr off at the flat after she had phoned Miss Myles “sounding panicked” and saying that she was not happy at a “situation she was in”.
She said Wallace made threats to her as he was dropping his then partner off, saying he would do her or get her done in – which she interpreted as meaning “to hit me” or “give me a good kicking”.
Miss Myles said: “Nicola was basically seeking sanctuary from him in my house.”
She told the court that after Wallace left Miss Barr began to receive a series of phone calls from him, and when he was put on loudspeaker he could be heard saying he was coming across with “some boys”.
Miss Myles, a plasterer, said Wallace sounded angry so she told him that her young daughter and a friend’s young daughter were in the flat, in the hope of putting him off. She added that she was also calling the police. However, she said that was an empty threat and she did not call officers.
Later, she heard the car “screech” and voices outside shouting “this house” and “here”. She went to her hall and tried to hold her wooden double storm-doors closed, but was unable to, and Wallace and four other males pushed their way in.
She said: “I tried to shut the door but there was no chance. Jamie punched me. I tried to grab his hand but got hit by one of the other ones. Another boy reached over and hit me on the head with a Buckfast bottle, and I fell into the floor in the foetal position.
“Somebody stamped on the left hand side of my head. He had Timberland desert boots on.”
Prosecutor Sarah Lumsden asked: “Do you know who was doing the stamping?” Miss Myles replied: “Jamie.”
She said she remembered a claw hammer “coming over”. She grabbed it with both hands and Wallace kicked her in the mouth.
She said: “I don’t know where Nicola was, but she wasn’t trying to stop it. My teeth got smashed and I got dizzy but I wasn’t going to let go of the hammer at that point.”
The court heard that she was then on her hands and knees and received further kicks to the body, until finally someone said “that’s enough” and her attackers left.
Miss Myles was left with multiple bruises, two cracked teeth, and marks on her fingers from holding onto the hammer, and required dental treatment.
She said she no longer felt safe living on her own, and had returned to stay with her parents.
A doctor who examined Miss Myles after the alleged attack told the court that he found 14 separate injuries – on her head, arms and body.
Dr Alastair Howie, 69, a forensic medical examiner with NHS Lothian, said they included lines on one side of her face which could match the tread of a boot used to stamp on it, and an abrasion to the side of her skull consistent with being hit with a blunt object such as a bottle.
He said other injuries were consistent with kicks and punches and a chip to the lower margin of a front incisor tooth was consistent with the use of “moderate to severe force”. He added that the 14 injuries were “consistent with being punched, kicked and having her head stamped on”.
However, he did say he thought it “unlikely these injuries would have endangered her life”.
He also agreed with Virgil Crawford, defending, that Miss Myles’ injuries could have been sustained in other ways, such as a struggle, or falling against something.
Wallace, of North Lea, Doune, denies acting with others and assaulting Miss Myles by punching and kicking her on the body and stamping on her head, and threatening to hit her with a hammer, to her injury and danger of life.
He further denies using threatening and abusive behaviour in the run-up to the incident, on August 1.
The trial continues.
My teeth got smashed and I got dizzy