Kirkby man 'flipped out' and violently attacked victim, rape trial hears

Armed response officers were called to Bradley Dawes' home on Mayfield Street at 3.30pm, on January 2, 2019 amid fears a woman was being held against her will.

Officers removed a knife they found on the sofa where Dawes was sitting, PC Danielle Richardson said in a statement.

She said a woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was also present with ‘substantial injuries to her face’ and Dawes was shouting at her.

The woman claimed Dawes ‘flipped out’ – hitting her in the face and trying to strangle her, after confiscating her mobile phone and refusing to let her leave the house.

"I was screaming and saying leave me alone," the woman said in a statement. "I don't know how, but I managed to defend myself."

She punched him in the nose in a bid to make him stop, she said.

Dawes ordered her to go upstairs and get on the bed where, it is alleged, he sexually assaulted her and raped her, the court heard.

"She suffered a broken nose, chipped her tooth, blacked her eyes and he inflicted other injuries upon her," prosecutor Stuart Lody told the court.

The following morning, the victim gained access to her phone and eventually the police were called, he said.

Det Con Donna Elliott, who led the investigation, questioned Dawes and his alleged victim.

The woman was left with bruising on her face, cuts to her knuckles and a graze on her finger, Mr Lody said.

Earlier in the week, the court was shown a series of pictures taken by the victim and the police which showed bruises to the victim's side, a bruise on her eyes and her broken nose.

The woman was also beaten up by him on a service station forecourt, in a separate attack, on December 21, 2018, the court heard.

Dawes, 26, of Kirkby, pleaded guilty to two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, but denies charges of sexual assault and rape.

The trial continues.

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