Alleged victim defends woman accused of knife attack

Thursday 23 November 2023

The alleged victim of a knife attack has told a jury that he doesn't believe the accused meant to harm him.

The man was giving evidence on the second day of the Royal Court trial of Nilza Vieira (37), who denies the charge of grave and criminal assault.

On the first day of the trial she claimed that the victim had made her angry by shouting abuse at her and filming her on his mobile phone and shouting abuse at her. She said she he had hit out at him to stop him recording – and accidentally injured his right thigh with the knife she had picked up.

The incident took place in the early hours of 25 November last year. The victim went to States police headquarters and Ms Vieira was arrested shortly afterwards.

However speaking through a Portuguese interpreter, the alleged victim gave evidence for the defence.

He told the court that she had set the knife down on a table after brandishing it. Advocate Rui Tremoceiro, defending, asked him: “Did she pick the knife up again while you were there?”

He said: “No.”

The advocate asked: “Did you say to officers that you wanted to make a complaint?”

He again replied: “No.”

Crown Advocate Lauren Hallam, prosecuting, said to him: “The knife connected with your leg when she thrust it towards you, didn’t it?”

He said: “I didn’t even notice at the time. It was just a few minutes after that I noticed.”

However in her closing statement, Advocate Hallam told the jury of six men and six women that the incident was “a clear and obvious grave and criminal assault”.

She said: “She was angry, she was frustrated, she grabbed a knife and she lunged with it.” And she disputed Ms Vieira’s claim that she had only tried to stop the alleged victim filming her.

She said: “The knife was not aimed at the phone. It was aimed at his body. The defendant cannot possibly have been trying to knock the phone out of his hands, because she simply didn’t aim there.”

She added: “Trying to scare someone by thrusting with a knife is extremely reckless. When a knife is used in anger or to scare someone the consequences can be very serious.”

However in his closing statement, Advocate Tremoceiro told the jury: “We may feel her request to stop recording was a reasonable one. No-one likes being filmed against their will.

“But she did not intend to hurt him. He mentioned that she may have intended just to scare him.

“He said that to contrast with the suggestion that she wanted to harm him.”

The trial is expected to conclude today. Commissioner Alan Binnington is presiding.