Joshua Charles Jones denied inflicting grievous bodily harm when he appeared at Swansea Crown Court
A MAN has gone on trial accused of hitting his former father-in-law "like a punchbag", repeatedly punching him in the face as he lay bleeding an unconscious in the middle of the road.
Joshua Charles Jones is said to have carried out the "vicious and cowardly" assault on the street outside Taibach rugby club - an attack which left his 54-year-old victim with life-changing brain injuries.
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Jones denies causing grievous bodily harm with intent, saying he was acting in self defence after Michael Evans had attacked him with a lump hammer.
Swansea Crown Court heard that 27-year-old Jones and Mr Evans' daughter, Danielle, had been in a relationship for some five years but that it had ended "acrimoniously" in early 2015, and with Jones being made the subject of a restraining order.
It is the prosecution case is that on the evening of August 14 that year, Jones set about Mr Evans after a confrontation in the cab of his former father-in-law's van, hitting him to the side of the head as his victim drove, and then continuing the attack in the street.
Paul Hobson, for the prosecution, described it as a "vicious and cowardly" attack involving repeated punches to the head.
The court heard that the attack was witnessed by a South Wales Police call handler who was driving home at the end of her shift.
She described how she was flagged-down by a bloodied Mr Evans as she approached Taibach Cross — the man told her had been attacked, and asked her to call the police. An injured Jones, of Wern Road in Margam, then appeared beside her car, she said, saying he was the one who had been attacked with a hammer by Mr Evans.
The call-handler said she rang 999 and then got between the two fighting men — it was then she noticed Mr Evans was holding a hammer.
She said she asked Mr Evans to give her the hammer — which he did — and then Jones launched an attack on the older man.
The witness described seeing Jones throw Mr Evans to the floor and sit astride his chest, punching him "at least 10 to 15 times" with both fists "like a punch bag".
She said the alleged victim's body went limp after the first punch or two, but that Jones continued hitting him in the face.
Under cross-examination from James Hartson, for Jones, the witness denied exaggerating the number of punches she had seen been being thrown.
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Trial judge Peter Heywood said he wanted to publicly commend the public-spiritedness of the police employee who had stopped and tried to defuse the confrontation.
The court heard Mr Evans suffered "life-changing injuries" in the alleged attack — as well as the multiple cuts to his face and a broken nose he had bleeding on the brain and has been left with memory loss and difficulties in reasoning and planning.
The court also heard evidence from the alleged victim, Mr Evans.
He told the court Jones was in the passenger seat of his van when he felt a blow to the side of the head.
The builder said after that he could remember very little of what happened — his next memory is of trying to learn to walk again some six weeks later.
Jones denies GBH, and the trial continues.
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