The solemn aftermath of a bloody alleged biting attack has been aired in court, with a bandaged woman describing the moment she realised part of her ear had come off.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The woman gave evidence against her alleged attaker, Mount Warrigal's Tristan James Kent, in Wollongong Local Court Monday. Kent is defending the charges against him, claiming he acted in self-defence.
Video played to the court showed the woman being interviewed by police from her Shellharbour Hospital bed on January 12, with a bandage wrapped around her head, bruises surrounding her neck and a bite mark visible on her arm.
The court heard the woman, then 19, began arguing with 29-year-old Kent late on January 11, after the pair returned home from a social gathering. Kent, a semi-professional rally car driver, is accused of smashing the woman's phone and grabbing her throat with both hands.
"Once he stopped, I screamed," the woman told police. "I just screamed like nothing. Then he ran off, thinking I was going to get him in trouble."
Kent later allegedly returned to the home and grabbed his girlfriend from behind in a choke hold as she tried to leave.
Police allege the woman panicked and bit Kent on his lower arm to try to get him to release her.
"When he was strangling me he told me, 'I told you I was going to kill someone," she told police. "That was scary."
"I bit him and he bit me back.
"Something happened to my ear ... It felt like a bite - I knew what it was - but then I touched it with my hand and went, 'f---. What the hell?'."
In evidence, the woman said her hand came away from her ear covered in blood. She said the alleged choke hold had caused her to feel "dizzy. Kind of like the feeling you get when you're going to faint".
Kent has previously claimed he only "nipped" the woman's ear in order to get her to release her grip on his genitals
A video recorded by Kent in the hours leading up to the alleged assault showed the home in disarray. He narrates from behind the camera, at times filming the woman, accusing her of causing the mess and damage.
"I've asked her to leave but she refuses to leave," he said, in the recording.
"I'm done, she's trespassing right now. I've asked you to stop smashing up my place several times ... you just don't f---ing stop, do you? You think you're immune from the law. You've f---ing antagonised me to the point where I've got the s---s, then you f---ing screamed like a victim ... You're setting me up."
The woman will return to court for cross-examination when the hearing resumes before Magistrate Mark Douglass, on October 12.