Teen who embedded hammer in skull of love rival denies attempted murder

The onslaught followed the defendant's discovery that his ex-girlfriend had slept with the other teenager, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

The couple admitted making love but maintained it was after the break up, said Miss Michelle Heeley QC, prosecuting.

She continued: "This was why he may have resented the other young man but there was no excuse for him to attack him, let alone use a hammer."

'I swear we will batter you'

The attacker, who cannot be identified because of this age, left a party at a flat in Wolverhampton city centre after receiving a succession of phone calls from his former girlfriend on July 12.

He put one of the calls on loudspeaker and people allegedly overheard her shouting: "We're coming up to town and will meet you there. I swear we will batter you."

The teenager returned to the party 'red faced' soon afterwards after allegedly seeing the couple and pulled a hammer from his duffel bag, the court heard.

'I'm going to kill him'

"He put the weapon into the waste band of his shorts, said 'I'm going to kill him,' turned and stormed out of the flat," declared the prosecutor.

When he reached the pedestrian underpass below the city centre's Bilston Street roundabout he was punched in the face by his former girlfriend, it was said.

The victim, who is also 17, told the jury the defendant turned on him at the same spot.

He said: "He jumped over the railings and walked towards me. I noticed he had a hammer.

"Then I was punched in the face by a friend of his who knocked me off balance.

"I couldn't see where the defendant was. Then I felt a big weight on my head. Five or ten seconds later I realised I had been hit.

"I didn't see the hammer coming towards me. I went to the ground, could not feel the left side of my body and thought I was dying."

'Sickening'

A friend of the defendant's, who followed him to the scene after failing to calm him down at the party, recalled in evidence: "He drew the hammer all the way round his body and over his head, while leaning over his ex-girlfriend who was trying to stop him, and brought it down with full force.

"He didn't say anything as the hammer went into the victim's head. It was sickening, so sickening my instinct was just to close my eyes."

The victim, who had the weapon removed in an emergency operation, still walks with a limp, does not have full feeling in his left arm and is struggling with his speech, the court heard.

The defendant, who comes from Wednesfield, has admitted having the hammer and causing grievous bodily harm with intent but denies attempted murder.

The trial continues.