Model sustained ‘septic’ injuries after being bitten by ex-partner, court hears

A model sustained injuries that turned “septic” after being bitten multiple times by her ex-partner, a court has heard.

Chloe Othen, 33,  was punched in the head 30 times, strangled and dragged along the floor by her hair by Ricky Lawrence, 32, the Nightingale Crown Court in Holborn, central London, was told on Tuesday.

Giving her opening statement, prosecutor Sheilagh Davies said Lawrence, of Hans Crescent, Knightsbridge, west London, beat Ms Othen, took her phone and stopped her from leaving his flat, during an incident in October 2022.

Ms Davies said: “As she got up to leave, Ricky Lawrence had grabbed her phone out of her hand and refused to give it back. He then lashed out and punched her.

“He was fighting her, biting her multiple times all over her body.”

Ms Davies said Ms Othen and Lawrence had been in a relationship earlier in 2022, which had ended long before the incident, but that they were still in occasional contact and met up from time to time.

Bora Guccuk, who had begun a relationship with Ms Othen at the time, had tried to call her phone in the flat, but Lawrence answered and threatened him, saying he would “kill him”, the court heard.

Ms Othen ran out of the flat, calling Mr Guccuk for help, before meeting him and her friend, Alexandra Ivanovic, at the Berkeley Hotel, also in Knightsbridge.

Police later took details before arresting Lawrence at his flat, the court was told.

The defendant provided a prepared statement to police in which he said he had “repeatedly asked Chloe to leave but she continued to shout and scream” and he had “sustained a lengthy scratch along my abdomen”, the court heard.

Ms Othen went to A&E on October 16, where her injuries were documented, and it was shown that one of the bite marks on her neck “turned septic”.

Ms Davies said: “Chloe Othen had a number of injuries, and very nasty injuries at that.

“They clearly cannot, in the Crown’s submission, have been self-inflicted.”

Ms Othen subsequently produced 10 photographs which showed different sites of injury on her body.

Giving evidence in court, Ms Othen said she met Lawrence in September 2021 and their relationship started in December of that year.

She said the relationship ended after six months, in about May 2022, but that they were “on and off” after that time and she had last seen Lawrence “a few days” before the incident.

Ms Othen said she had been at an event during the day of October 14 and the defendant became “aggressive” by text, adding: “I thought I’d let him calm down and then go over there and see him.”

In WhatsApp messages shown in court, exchanged between Ms Othen and Mr Lawrence from 04.17am to 05.35am on October 15, Lawrence said: “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.”

Ms Othen said she had gone home by this time and thought Lawrence’s behaviour was “manic”, but that receiving abusive messages from him was “quite normal”.

She said she arrived at the flat at 05.35am after getting a taxi from Kensington.

Asked about Lawrence’s mood when she arrived, Ms Othen said he was “weirdly calm”.

“Ricky was quite strange when I walked in. Within five, 10 minutes, I wanted to leave,” she said.

“I genuinely thought he was going to kill me.”

Ms Othen said Lawrence “punched me about 30 times in the head and the ear” for “about an hour and a half”, after taking her phone away from her.

She said he also “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”.

Ms Othen said she managed to escape and ran to the Berkeley Hotel, which was five minutes down the road, and called Ms Ivanovic to meet, before ringing Mr Guccuk.

She said she first went to Ms Ivanovic’s house from the hotel, and later to Mr Guccuk’s house.

The jury were shown two sets of photographs, one taken by police at Mr Guccuk’s house on October 15, and more taken the following day, which showed marks and bruising on Ms Othen’s face, neck, elbow, inner thigh, right leg and knee.

Ms Othen said she had a mild cauliflower ear and had to get her jaw unlocked as a result of the attack, and had to wear a neck brace from being strangled.

She said she was bitten by Lawrence six times.

Ms Davies said Ms Othen was recorded as checking in to A&E just after 5.50pm on October 16.

Asked why she did not seek medical attention sooner, Ms Othen said she was “traumatised”.

Lawrence, who denies a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, spoke only to confirm his name.

The trial continues.