Model and influencer Chloe Othen was left with bruises and bite marks over her body, the court heard (Picture: PA)
A model suffered a bite that turned ‘septic’ and at least 30 punches to the head in an attack by her ex-partner who threatened to ‘f*** up’ her life, a court has heard.
Miss Universe finalist Chloe Othen, 33, ‘genuinely thought he was going to kill me’ after visiting Ricky Lawrence’s £1.5 million flat in the early hours of October 15, 2022, Sky News reported.
Othen tried to leave, but Lawrence took her phone and launched an attack in which he punched her 30 times in the head, strangled her and dragged her along the floor by the hair, the court heard.
She was covered with bruises, cuts and a bit that later turned septic when she was finally able to escape the attack and leave her ex-partner’s home.
Ricky Lawrence outside the Nightingale Crown Court in Holborn where he’s on trial for assault occasioning actual bodily harm following an alleged attack on his ex-partner (Picture: Jordan Pettitt/PA)
Lawrence, 31 and of Hans Crescent, Knightsbridge in London, is on trial at the nightingale Crown Court in Holborn, accused of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
He denies the charge.
Opening the case on Tuesday, prosecutor Sheilagh Davies told the court: ‘The prosecution allege that Mr Lawrence beat Chloe, a former partner, injuring her with very nasty injuries.
‘Chloe felt she needed to leave and go home.
‘He then lashed out and punched her many times about her head many times. He was fighting her, biting her, all over her body.
‘She says that Ricky Lawrence stopped her from leaving, and she was kept there unwillingly.
Othen had visited Lawrence’s apartment at 5.35am after leaving an event because the defendant had become ‘aggressive’ over text.
WhatsApp messages shown in court show Lawrence telling Othen: ‘You f***** up tonight. Watch what I do now you silly c***.’
Another message said: ‘I’ll do anything in my power to f*** up the rest of your life. Screenshot that.’
The pair had been in a six-month relationship until May 2022, after which they were “on and off” until the time of the alleged assault, Othen told the court.
She said she had last seen Lawrence a few days earlier.
Chloe Othen outside the court where a jury saw photographs of marks and bruising on Othen’s face, neck, elbow, inner thigh, right leg and knee, taken after the alleged assault (Picture: Jordan Pettitt/PA)
Othen describes Lawrence’s behaviour that night as ‘manic’ but said abusive messages from him was ‘normal’.
By the time she arrived at his flat, Lawrence was ‘weirdly calm’ she said.
This was soon to change, the court heard.
Othen said: ‘Ricky was quite strange when I walked in. Within five, 10 minutes, I wanted to leave.
‘I genuinely thought he was going to kill me.’
She said Lawrence took her phone and ‘punched me about 30 times in the head and the ear’ in an attack lasting roughly half an hour.
Othen said Lawrence ‘pulled me up and down from the kitchen to the bedroom’ by her hair before he ‘got two kitchen knives from his bedroom and chased me round the dining room’.
Bora Guccuk, Othen’s partner at the time, tried to call Othen, but it was Lawrence who answered.
Lawrence threatened Guccuk, telling him he would ‘kill him’, the court heard.
MailOnline reported Othen as telling the court: ‘He said that he was going to finish me off and finish him (Bora) off. I saw him with my own eyes talking to Bora.
‘He was threatening Bora and myself.
‘He said he was going to slit my throat and his (Bora’s) throat. It is imprinted in my brain that whole night.’
Othen managed to call Guccuk and meet him and a friend at Berkeley Hotel, Knightsbridge, after running out of the flat.
Her injuries were documented at A&E the next day. One of the bite marks on her neck had ‘turned septic’, the prosecutor said.
Othen said she had mild cauliflower ear and had to get her jaw unlocked, and had to wear a neck brace from being strangled.
The jury was shown two sets of photographs showing marks and bruising on Othen’s face, neck, elbow, inner thigh, right leg and knee.
One set of the photos was taken by police on 15 October, with more taken the next day.
Police arrested Lawrence at his flat.
He provided police with a prepared statement saying he had ‘repeatedly asked Chloe to leave she continued to shout and scream’, the court heard.
Lawrence also said he had ‘sustained a lengthy scratch along my abdomen’.
He denies the charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and spoke only to confirm his name at the court hearing on Tuesday.
The trial continue.
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