Greenham man Thomas Etherton denies causing GBH by shattering victim’s eye socket

A MAN shattered another’s eye socket with a single, devastating sucker punch, a court heard.

Ironically, victim Trevor Ball had been trying to return a mobile phone to the owner when the allegedly unprovoked attack happened.

Horrified witnesses rushed to stem the blood and Mr Ball told a Reading Crown Court jury he feared his eye had been knocked loose.

He later needed hospital treatment.

In the dock was Thomas Etherton, of Sandleford Lane, Greenham, who denies unlawfully and maliciously causing grievous bodily harm on September 29, 2019.

Giving evidence for the prosecution on Thursday, January 4, Mr Ball said he found a broken mobile phone in Fir Tree Lane, Newbury.

When he placed his own SIM card in it, he said he was contacted by Mr Etherton, who asked him to return it, offering a £40 reward.

The pair arranged to meet at the Shell garage on the A4 Bath Road in Padworth and Mr Ball arrived with his girlfriend, Michelle.

He told the jury he was surprised when 31-year-old Mr Etherton refused to shake his hand.

He said: “That was strange – I brought his phone back and he wasn’t willing to do a gentleman’s handshake.

“Then he said: ‘What’s my effing phone doing all the way up here – I should slap you two.’”

“He was getting aggressive almost straight away.”

Mr Ball said that, after he handed over the phone, Mr Etherton punched him without warning.

He added: “One minute I was stood there, next minute there was a popping sound...I thought my eye had popped out.

“There was blood everywhere and people were running over.

“He went to get back in his car, did a wheel spin and drove off.

“I’ve never had a fight in 50 years – I wasn’t aggressive.”

Under cross examination by the defence, Mr Ball conceded he would have sold the phone if it had been working because he was addicted to crack cocaine at the time.

He said he was surprised by Mr Etherton’s apparently frantic need to retrieve his pho

“He really wanted the SIM card back – and you don’t want me to go into that, do you?”

The court heard Mr Etherton will argue that he acted in self defence; that Mr Ball and his girlfriend became aggressive when he declined to pay them £40 and feared he was about to be attacked.

The trial, expected to finish next week, continues.