The fatal injuries caused to Good Samaritan Alison Wilson could only have been caused by a broken bottle being thrust into her neck, rather than by flying glass, a court heard.
Miss Wilson, 36, and her boyfriend Anthony Tomlinson were attacked after stepping out of a taxi to intervene in a heated row between Stephen Duggan, 28, and a young mum carrying a baby in a car seat on March 7, in Frank Street, Widnes.
However Duggan, of no fixed address, smashed a wine bottle over 43-year-old Mr Tomlinson’s head before striking mum-of-two Miss Wilson in the neck.
He admits manslaughter, wounding Mr Tomlinson and assaulting the other woman but denies murder.
He also denies an assault on the baby, who sustained facial injuries after falling from the car seat to the pavement.
Today forensic pathologist Dr Brian Rogers, who examined her body, told the court the blow left Miss Wilson with a “ragged wound” which all but severed her jugular vein.
He said the massive blood loss caused abnormalities in the way her blood was able to clot, which also led to her suffering a stroke while she was being treated by doctors.
Under questioning from Gordon Cole, QC, prosecuting, Dr Rogers said: “To cause the extensive damage that was present, to the muscle and soft tissues, and the veins in the neck, in my view has to be caused by some form of irregular sharp object pushed into the neck in that position.”
Mr Cole asked if the wound to Miss Wilson could have been caused by a piece of glass or a shard of glass flying through the air.
Updates from court as the trial continues
Dr Rogers said a single piece of glass would have caused a cleaner cut, and not the “ragged” wound he found on Miss Wilson’s neck.
Dr Rogers, who also examined pictures and medical reports of Mr Tomlinson’s horrific injures, said that he believed it “likely” that he was struck with two blows.
The court also heard details of how doctors and nurses at Whiston Hospital battled to save Miss Wilson’s life.
Mr Cole read details of how Miss Wilson’s heart stopped beating twice as she was treated in A&E, before the skills of doctors managed to resuscitate her.
Surgeons managed to stabilise the wound, but “gravely ill” Miss Wilson succumbed to her injuries six days later, on March 13.
Yesterday the court heard how Mr Tomlinson was rendered unconscious by the blow, and awoke to find his partner of six years holding her neck, with a look of shock in her eyes.
Paramedics said the bottle had sliced through his cheek leaving his teeth and tongue visible through the wound.
(Proceeding)
Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/