By Staff Reporter

Last updated at 12:24, Thursday, 06 September 2012

A student who shattered a man’s jaw claimed he had no option but to hit out, saying: “There was nothing else I could have done.”

David Keefe, 19, said he hit Daniel Johnson after feeling his hand on the back of his head following trouble in a halls of residence.

Keefe, of Spencer Street in Carlisle city centre, told a jury he felt he had done nothing wrong in the violence involving the two University of Cumbria students.

It happened at the University’s campus in Fusehill Street, Carlisle, last December.

Mr Johnson says it was totally unprovoked.

Keefe was giving evidence in his trial at the city’s crown court. He has pleaded not guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm.

He has also denied two charges arising from an alleged incident involving one of Mr Johnson’s friends 13 days later.

He is accused of affray and carrying a meat cleaver in the city centre.

Keefe was living in the halls of residence at the time and said he was working on coursework in a female friend’s room.

A group were in the flat drinking and there was, he said, banging on the door at 6.30pm, with some of them asking his friend to come for a drink.

Keefe said he had to ask them to leave.

The court was told that later Keefe went to the kitchen for a drink of water and Mr Johnson came over, wishing to talk to him.

Keefe said he had a deadline and wanted to get his work done.

He said Mr Johnson at one point put his foot in the door of his bedroom.

Keefe told the court he had suggested going outside so he could lock Mr Johnson out.

“I walked out past him to go to the door,” Keefe told the court. “I felt the back of his hand scrape the back of my head. I turned round and hit him.”

The court previously heard claims that Keefe continued punching Mr Johnson. But he said he punched him only twice.

“There was nothing else I could have done,” he said.

“I had a female friend in my room. He was drunk. He had mates who were a lot bigger than me.”

Keefe said he was in bed at the time of the later incident. The trial continues.

First published at 11:26, Thursday, 06 September 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk