A COURT has heard how two men were violently attacked and injured outside a West Cumbria pub.
Nicky Walsh suffered a double jaw fracture, severe bruising and cuts to his face and hands after being assaulted outside the Lifeboat Inn at Harrington, near Workington, just before midnight on March 15 last year. Mr Walsh told police he was struck an “almighty” initial blow to his head from behind which knocked him to the ground, and was then punched five to six more times while trying to get up.
His pal, Matthew Nicol, spoke of trying to break up a fight, and “the next thing I remember is waking up on the floor”. A chin cut was stitched and he suffered a black eye.
Mark Trainor, 18, is on trial at Carlisle Crown Court. He denies unlawfully and maliciously causing Mr Walsh grievous bodily harm, and denies an actual bodily harm assault on Mr Nicol.
Eyewitness Esha Denwood told a jury she had known Mr Nicol all her life and Trainor for several years. She saw Mr Nicol calming down an argument between Trainor and a female.
Shortly after, she saw Mr Nicol and Mr Walsh outside the pub. “That’s when Mark came out, Mark Trainor,” said Miss Denwood.
“He just goes right for Matthew and Nicky. They are just standing talking to each other. I don’t even think they saw it coming. He just went over and hit them.
Jack Troup, defending, asked: “Is it possible you have mistaken someone else for Mr Trainor?” Miss Denwood replied: “No.”
Opening the case, prosecutor David Traynor told jurors the only issue was whether or not Trainor, of High Close, Harrington, had attacked Mr Walsh and Mr Nicol, saying: “As I understand it, his position is: it was not me.”
The trial continues.
