A MAN accused of 'stamping' on his ex-partner's head in an attack near Cutteslowe Park told jurors the violence never happened.
Prosecutors claim that Robert Burden, of Hazel Crescent, Kidlington, repeatedly struck his ex-partner's head with his foot during an attack at a road bridge over the A40.
The 39-year-old is accused of injuring the woman during that assault at about 6pm on April 22.
He denies one count of harassment by breaching a restraining order and one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
READ AGAIN: A report from the opening of the case at court on Monday.
As the trial continued at Oxford Crown Court yesterday Burden took to the witness box to profess his innocence.
He told jurors that he had spent the day in Bicester with friends before agreeing to meet with his ex-partner at the north Oxford park at about 5.30pm.
Speaking of his encounter with the woman by a pond at the park he said she was 'aggressive' towards him.
He said: "Instantly I noticed she was either extremely hungover or she had been drinking.
"She smelt as though she had been drinking.
"She [said] 'where is my money, you have taken too long'. I had previously explained she would not have her money until later that month."
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Burden said he did have some money to give her but said she continued to be aggressive.
He said: "I was sat on the bench and she [was] physically poking and clipping at me and prodding at me."
Jurors were told that Burden had suffered a previous injury after falling off a bike leaving him with a scab.
He said that the confrontation at the park led to her 'opening' that scab which caused him to raise an arm to her, which made contact with her head.
The woman then left, he told jurors, calling back to him 'w**ker' as she went.
He said he then followed her to the bridge where prosecutors claim the attack took place and Burden went on to deny repeatedly stamping on her head there.
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Earlier in the case prosecutor Robert Lindsey told jurors that Burden had been in a 'turbulent' relationship with his alleged victim between 2010 and 2016.
From the witness box the woman recalled what she claimed happened to her at the bridge.
She said: "I was on the floor, I felt a foot on my head. I could not get up, I could hear shouting, muffling.
"I don't know what was said and I could see a foot on my face.
"I think I went into the sort of foetal position, I just could not get up. I could not move."
Referring to the woman's account yesterday Burden told jurors: "It made me feel absolutely sick. I was not happy to hear that.
"It was all a complete pack of lies and we all know that."
He added: "I have never hit her, I certainly didn't stamp on her. Until yesterday [Monday] I loved her."
The trial continues.
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