A 17-year-old hit a woman over the head with a paving slab and raped her before leaving her for dead, a court has heard.
The teenager left the woman with horrific head injuries after dragging her into undergrowth, where she was found by a passing cyclist almost an hour later.
The boy has admitted causing grievous bodily harm, two counts of rape, and stealing the victim’s handbag, but denies attempting to murder her in Leicester’s Victoria Park on the night of July 3.
The alleged attack took place in Victoria Park, Leicester, where the woman was left for dead in the undergrowth. She was only saved after she was spotted by a cyclist and rushed to hospital
Opening the case against the youth, who cannot be named because of his age, prosecutor Gordon Aspden told Leicester Crown Court that the woman would have died were it not for the treatment she received in hospital.
After showing the jury CCTV of the defendant allegedly carrying a paving stone, Mr Aspden told the court the woman was walking through the park when the defendant appeared at her side, violently forced her to the ground and raped her.
The prosecutor warned jurors: ‘The evidence in this case is by any standards disturbing and extremely unpleasant.’
He then added: ‘The defendant dragged her off the path into the adjacent undergrowth.
‘There was violence throughout. He struck her repeatedly. She was hit on the head at least twice with that heavy object that the defendant had brought with him for that very purpose.
‘As a result of those blows she suffered truly dreadful, life-threatening head injuries.’
![The youth, who cannot be named because of his age, is now on trial at Leicester Crown Court](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/12/04/15/46FA78EE00000578-5144173-image-a-138_1512402694630.jpg)
The youth, who cannot be named because of his age, is now on trial at Leicester Crown Court
Mr Aspden added: ‘Within a matter of minutes the defendant left her for dead.
‘He made no attempt to summon help or to call an ambulance, not even anonymously.
‘Given what the defendant did, the Crown suggests that he used violence to terrorise and subdue his victim and ultimately his intention was to silence her.
‘He raped her and attempted to kill her in order to prevent her from telling anyone, in particular the police and the courts, about what he had done.
‘The level of violence he used, clearly and by any standards, went far, far beyond what was required to rape her.
‘In short, had it not been for the outstanding medical treatment that she received, she would now be dead – dead at this defendant’s hands.’
The court also heard that three youths, sitting in a children’s play area, heard screaming and saw a woman struggling with a man, who appeared to be punching her repeatedly.
The group dialled 999 at 11.38pm to report what they had seen, the court heard.
Police attended the park but did not spot the injured victim, who was lying semi-conscious in the undergrowth.
A cyclist contacted the ambulance service around 50 minutes later after spotting blood and a hair-clip on the ground and finding the victim critically injured nearby.
The defendant, who had been drinking in a pub, was linked to the attack by ‘billion-to-one’ DNA matches after his parents contacted the police following a media appeal, the jury was told.
The trial continues.
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