News Beat
Teacher ‘left paralysed by boyfriend when he snapped her neck’ weeps as she tells court he ‘turned into Incredible Hulk’
A TEACHER was left paralysed by her boyfriend after he snapped her neck, a court heard.
Trudi Burgess, 56, sobbed at Preston Crown Court today and alleged Robert Eason, 56, turned into “the Incredible Hulk”.
She told the jury her boyfriend was a “monster” who attacked her after she tried to leave the relationship.
The pair had met after Ms Burgess’ husband died and Eason was working as a landscape gardener for her sister.
Ms Burgess accepted their relationship had started well and Eason used to be the “perfect partner”.
But the court heard Ms Burgess was left a tetraplegic with paralysis from the chest down after the attack at Eason’s Lancashire home in February.
The mum-of-two told the court she “had the feeling of all feeling going out of my body” and was “was going numb with each crack”.
Ms Burgess said: “I decided to be completely straight with him and end the relationship once and for all. I had avoided having that conversation because it could end up with him being scary and getting aggressive.
“He started to get angry and was saying ‘why the f*** do you always do this, you are always causing an argument?’
“He started to accuse me of making things complicated and started to get into one of his rages and started to pace around.”
Ms Burgess told the court she tried to appease him by saying she would stay, but he launched his assault as she begged “don’t hurt me”.
“I tried to say “you are killing me” but he kept pushing down and I felt like my head was being folded into my body,” she told the jury.
“I heard a crack and had the feeling of all feeling going out of my body. I was going numb with each crack.. More parts of my body went numb. I thought ‘I am dying, he is not stopping’. He was like a monster.”
Eason made Ms Burgess tell paramedics they had been playfighting to avoid going to prison, the court heard.
The mum-of-two is now paralysed from the chest down and suffers with neuropathic pain which makes her feel as though she can’t breathe.
She told defence barrister Tobias Smith she might have been “gesticulating and waving her arms” before the attack but claimed this was to defend herself.
Ms Burgess agreed the assault was “only a few seconds” long and then Eason took his weight off her.
She agreed he had told her to move and did not believe the extent of her injuries at the time.
Ms Burgess also accepted he called an ambulance as soon as he realised the gravity of the situation.
Eason admitted two previous assaults causing actual bodily on Ms Burgess and causing grievous bodily harm in the bedroom attack.
He denied the assault was with intent to cause her serious harm.
The jury has been told the issue in the trial was intent.
The trial continues.
