A doctor who examined the wounds on a staff member at Greenfields Children’s Centre has told the Royal Court that they could well have been caused by biting.
Forensic Medical Examiner Dr Deryn Evans was giving evidence in the Royal Court at the trial of a teenager accused of three counts of grave and criminal assault and one of common assault. The teenager denies all the charges.
On the first day of the teenager’s trial the staff member said he had been punched, head-butted and bitten in the attacks. Yesterday Dr Evans said she had examined the man afterwards and the wounds she observed could confirm his account.
Questioned by Advocate Rebecca-Morley Kirk, prosecuting, the doctor said that there were wounds to the staff member’s lower left leg, right elbow and left arm.
The leg wound, she said, was deep and "looked like a puncture wound" and could have been caused by teeth. The court also heard from another staff member who had been present the second time the teenager allegedly became violent, and also believed the alleged victim had been bitten by the teenager.
She admitted she did not see any biting but said: "I heard both of them saying: 'Don’t bite me.'"
The staff member said she had seen also seen the teenager punching, head-butting and spitting.
The teenager was also accused of breaking a panel in a glass door at the centre at the time, and Advocate Julia-Anne Dix, defending, said: "You didn’t see them break any glass. There was no glass in that panel and you didn’t see any shards of glass. You are not aware that they broke that glass panel."
She said: "Not to my recollection, no."
The advocate also asked: "Is it correct that Greenfields was short-staffed quite a lot?"
The witness replied: "There were times when we were struggling with staff. It was a regular issue that we had there."
The trial is expected to conclude today.
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