Victim needed 18 stitches to his face after Wem bottle attack, court told
A man needed 18 stitches after he was hit in the face with a bottle in Wem town centre, leaving him with cuts to his cheek and eye, a court heard.
Arron Chelmick, aged 25, of High Street, Wem, is accused of wounding the victim during a scuffle last summer.
At a trial at Shrewsbury Crown Court, the jury were shown photographs of the injuries in the immediate aftermath of the incident taken by police officers who were in the vicinity and quickly arrived at the scene.
Mr Timothy Sapwell, prosecuting barrister, said: "On the afternoon of July 6 Benjamin Goulding and some of his friends were in Wem where they met up by the dentist surgery in Noble Street, at the back of the town hall.
"Arron Chelmick, the defendant, was there and during the course of the time they were there, there was an argument and it is not clear exactly what the argument was about.
"Benjamin got on a bicycle because of what happened and decided to ride off. As he rode away the defendant threw one of two bottles of beer at him which hit Benjamin on the back of the head.
"In response to that he got off his bike and went towards the defendant. The defendant, still holding the other bottle, went towards Benjamin who feared for what would happen so he picked up the defendant by the legs and threw him down to the ground. The defendant got up quite quickly still with the bottle.
"There are different accounts of how the defendant used the bottle to cause those cuts. Some say he had Benjamin in a headlock position using that bottle by squeezing it against Benjamin's cheek until it broke. Others say he threw it into his face."
Mr Goulding told the jury he had not instigated the confrontation by being aggressive towards the defendant and said that he had not been drinking alcohol or taken illegal drugs. He said there had been an argument among his friends because someone had spilled a fizzy drink over his girlfriend which had nothing to do with the subsequent clash with Chelmick.
He also said Chelmick owed £150 to one of his friends and they had been trying to contact him earlier that day to get the money.
Chelmick, also known as Arron Harding or Arron Bate, denies wounding.
The trial continues.
