A teenager was randomly attacked from behind by a man swinging a wooden pole outside his south London school and left in a critical condition, a court heard.
Luke Bowyer, 35, allegedly got into an argument with a group of schoolchildren when he shouted out of his window at them.
He then ran into the street armed with a walking stick and knocked the schoolboy to the ground, leaving him unconscious and with blood pouring down his face, a court was told.
After striking the youngster in the back of the head, his alleged attacker then hit out at teachers who rushed to the scene, a jury was told today.
Inner London Crown Court (Stephen Craven)
Bowyer is accused of launching the assault as the teen waited for a bus after school in Streatham on November 25 last year.
A jury at Inner London Crown Court today heard the boy, who cannot be identified because of his age, told detectives he was knocked to the ground and heard a loud ringing in his ears.
In an interview with detectives played in court, he described the horrifying moment he was then struck in the arm and in the leg before he scrambled to his feet.
He escaped, with blood running down the side of his head, before an ambulance was called, the court heard.
The boy was rushed to hospital in a critical condition after falling unconscious but made a full recovery.
The court heard how police arrested Bowyer at the scene after an altercation with teachers.
Jurors were told how Bowyer was said to have become agitated after children shouted at him as he stood talking “randomly” from his window.
In a police interview played to the jury the boy said: “A man just hit me from behind and then I fell on the floor and then I heard the ring sound.
“You know when someone is in the hospital and someone is going to die and there’s a beep sound. The heart thing goes beep.
“My head was feeling dizzy and then I kept on running back to the school.
“I was crying at the same time as I was running and I was touching my head, making the blood just stop, but it didn’t.
“He was running after me and then the teachers aced and stopped him. I was keeping running, I was running fast. He didn’t speak, he just started hitting me.
“He started hitting me on my leg and arm and then after that I got up and I start running back to school and when I went back to school they called the ambulance and the police officers and my big sister came, I called her on my phone and told her everything that happened.
“When the ambulance came I was shaking and then I fell on the floor and then everything was black and then after that I didn’t know what happened until the next morning.
“I woke up I was in the hospital and then they were doing everything they can, checking my heart and everything.”
Police officer Ian Wells, who arrested Bowyer at the scene, also told the jury about the aftermath of the alleged attack.
PC Wells said: “I was standing outside the school, there was a lot of traffic and a man leant out the window and said there’s a man hitting kids with a stick.
“He [the victim] had blood pouring down the left side of his face. He called out to me and said there’s the police.
“He then pointed at his face as I went to attend to him another member of the public shouted ‘there’s a man down the road hitting kids with a stick’.
“The teacher dealt with [the boy] and I carried on down the road.”
Moments later, he came across Bowyer being confronted by teachers.
He continued: “He was quite agitated waving his arms around to me he looked out of place and he looked like the man who was causing the problems
“He was swinging his arms around getting agitated and the teachers were pointing at him saying that’s the man.
“I ran up to him because there was a bit of a mayhem, took hold of him. I called for assistance because I didn’t know how bad the situation was.”
Bowyer, of Streatham, is charged with one count of grievous bodily harm with intent, one count of attempted GBH, two common assaults and one charge of criminal damage.
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