Internal lacerations allegedly caused by the blade of a Stanley knife were among the injuries suffered by a woman who claimed she had been attacked and raped by her former common-law husband, the High Court in Belfast has been told. A 40 year-old Antrim man who applied unsuccessfully for bail is charged with raping the woman early on Sunday last and causing her grievous bodily harm.
Police were called to the house shortly before 2 a.m. after neighbours heard screams and calls for help. They broke in through an upstairs window and found the woman half-naked and bleeding from injuries to the face and head. The defendant, who had been served with a barring order two days earlier, was found in the house and was arrested.
He denied raping the woman, but accepted he might have caused the injuries to her face.