Hammer attack: Charge changed
2002-11-23 11:02
London - A young man from Uitenhage, who allegedly attacked his flat mate with a hammer, sat passively in the Inner London Court when the charge against him was changed to attempted murder.
Nicholas Nothard (22) had previously been charged with unlawful and intentional injury of his best friend since childhood, Matthew Marsland (22). The two men from the Eastern Cape had shared a flat South Lambeth.
Marsland was assaulted so viciously on the night of July 9 that his skull was partly pulverised.
He has since been treated at the King's College Hospital in London and will undergo his second intensive brain operation soon. The right side of his body is paralysed and he cannot speak.
Nothard tried to commit suicide by cutting his wrists and neck on the same night.
He was treated in hospital under police guard and is currently being held at a prison in Brixton.
A pale and obviously stressed Nothard often squeezed his eyes
shut as he sat in court.
In the visitors' gallery, his friend's mother, Carol Marsland from Uitenhage, watched proceedings. It was the first time since the attack that she had seen Nothard, whom she has known since he was a boy.
An emotional Mrs Marsland said shortly before the proceedings:
"I don't know why, but I want to see his (Nothard's) face."
Fabio Sousa, a friend who shared the flat with her son and Nothard, supported Mrs Marsland outside the court. Sousa, a key witness, did not attend the court proceedings.
The Portuguese Angolan, who was born in Namibia, discovered the bloody scene shortly after the attack.