“I didn’t force her to pray,” said a man accused of hitting a woman with praying rosary beads.

Binyam Solomon, 28, is on trial at Oxford Crown Court charged with five counts; three of assault by beating, one on intentional strangulation, and one of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The offences allegedly took place across July and August last year at an address in Oxford against a woman we have decided not to name.

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Solomon is accused of hitting the woman with rosary beads after she refused to ‘pray away the demons’.

He is also accused of strangling her and refusing to leave her home.

During the trial on Tuesday (September 10), Solomon took the stand and denied the offences.

When showed a picture of a cut on the woman’s face, the defendant said the injury was caused by her make-up.

Similarly, when shown a picture of a reported bruise on the woman’s elbow, Solomon said: “No, that’s not true, check her elbow now that’s just what it looks like now.”

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When asked who had hit the woman with the rosary beads if it had not been him, the defendant claimed the woman had hit herself.

“I didn’t force her to pray,” he added. “When she’s upset she don’t what she do” [sic]

Solomon, of Normandy Crescent, Oxford, denies the offences. The trial continues this week.