Chloe Hammond, 27, (pictured) allegedly launched the frenzied attack when Julie Holloway, 56, tapped on the window of her Audi TT near Embankment Pier on 19 March
An angry driver bit into a woman’s ear ‘like a dog with a chew toy’ when she was told off for blaring her horn at pedestrians, a court heard today.
Chloe Hammond, 27, allegedly launched the frenzied attack when Julie Holloway, 56, tapped on the window of her Audi TT near Embankment Pier on 19 March.
Ms Holloway chided Hammond for beeping at pedestrians crossing in front of her while traffic was at a standstill at around 2pm, it is said.
When she pointed out that Hammond was using her phone and not watching traffic, she lost her temper and called her a ‘f***ing ugly c**t’, Southwark Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor Christiaan Moll said: ‘Ms Hammond didn’t take kindly to this and responded angrily, we say, with various expletives, calling Ms Holloway an ‘ugly bitch’, an ‘old biddy’ and a ‘f***ing ugly c**t’.
Moments later, Hammond parked the silver convertible up the road at the junction with Temple Place before making her way back to Ms Holloway and her friends.
She kicked Ms Holloway in the stomach, causing her to double over, then grabbed her hair and bit into her ear, prosecutors claim.
‘We say the defendant then grabbed the complainant by her hair, on the left side of her head, and pulled her head even lower down,’ said Mr Moll.
‘Mr Vernon could not see the defendant’s head at this point because it was obstructed by the complainant.
‘But Mr Gallego saw the defendant appearing to bite the complainant’s right ear.
‘He described Ms Hammond as thrashing around like a dog with a chew toy.’
After someone else recovered the missing chunk of ear in a piece of tissue, Ms Holloway was rushed to St Thomas’ A&E department and eventually required reconstructive surgery to ‘make the ear look as normal as possible’.
Ms Holloway said she had been on her way to a boat party before the alleged assault.
She told jurors she recalled being verbally abused by Hammond before she ‘came out of nowhere’ and kicked her in the stomach.
‘I do recall coming forward and then the next thing I know, she grabbed both sides of my head and then she lunged into my ear,’ she said.
‘I felt her bite my ear. I couldn’t get her off me because she just lunged on to my ear.’
She confirmed she was in such ‘shock’ she did not initially notice when Hammond escaped.
Hammond, of Denham Vale, Raleigh, Essex, denies causing grievous bodily harm with intent. The trial continues at Southwark Crown Court, pictured
‘It was chaos at the time because my ear was on the floor.
‘I didn’t know what had really happened to me at the time. I didn’t grasp what had actually happened.
‘There was blood all over me, there was blood all over on e of the girls and I just didn’t know that my ear had gone missing as such until someone picked it up off the floor. It’s quite disturbing to say the least.’
Hammond was contacted after shocked onlookers took video recordings and photos as she fled the scene and voluntarily attended an interview at Charing Cross Police Station two days later.
Jurors heard she accused her alleged victim of ‘banging on her vehicle causing dents to the side’ as well as calling her a ‘Botox bitch’.
Mr Moll recalled her prepared statement in which she went on to claim Ms Holloway grabbed her hair, prompting her to ‘forcefully push the complainant away’.
‘She also denied biting the complainant on the ear on numerous occasions in the course of that interview, although now it would appear she accepts that by virtue of her plea,’ he added.
Jurors heard Hammond denies causing grievous bodily harm with intent but offered a late plea to a lesser charge of unlawful wounding.
‘The force required to bite someone’s ear off, applying your collective common sense must have been quite some extreme force, for someone to do that’ said the prosecutor.
‘Members of the jury, they must, at the time, have had the intention to cause really serious injury to the complainant.
‘But that is, fairly and squarely, a matter for you to decide, having heard all of the evidence and applying your common sense.’
Hammond, of Denham Vale, Raleigh, Essex, denies causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
She has admitted unlawful wounding but this was not accepted by the prosecution. The trial, estimated to last up to three days, continues.
Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.