A woman who spurned her neighbour’s sexual advances was smashed so hard in the face that her shattered nasal bone almost pierced her brain, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Maryana Strzelczyk’s nose fountained blood when an artery was ruptured in the attack in Juris Berzins’ flat on November 3 last year, it is alleged.

Berzins, 53, of Bolingbroke Court, Elsdon Grove, Bradford, denies unlawfully and maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm on Miss Strzelczyk.

His case is that she was saying inappropriate things to him and was injured by someone else after leaving the flat, the court heard.

Miss Strzelczyk told the jury yesterday that she was invited for a drink and brought pickled gherkins, beer and whisky.

She said Berzins and his partner Natalya were both drunk and had been arguing. All three sat drinking, talking and listening to music for about three hours.

Natalya then suggested to her that she had come round to have sex with Berzins.

“At first I thought she was joking and then I saw the anger in her eyes,” Miss Strzelczyk said. “I was really desperate to leave, but he grabbed me by the throat and sat me in a chair and said ‘sit’.”

When she told him she had a boyfriend, he asked: “So, what’s wrong with me then?”

Miss Strzelczyk said Berzins attacked her in the kitchen.

“He grabbed my hair and he’s really, really strong, rock solid, and he hit me in the face. He was like an animal,” she said.

She heard her nose crack and a fountain of blood welled out and just kept flowing.

Miss Strzelczyk alleged Berzins, who is assisted in court by a Russian interpreter, struck her to the face and head up to five times. She said Natalya told her: “Serves you right.”

Miss Strzelczyk said she left the flat, but stayed on the stairwell because she did not want her mother, who lives with her, to see her injuries. She was covered in blood and looked like “a right vampire.”

Miss Strzelczyk was taken to hospital by ambulance in the early hours. She told the jury the shattered bone in her nose had pierced her artery and narrowly missed her brain.

She needed two operations and four blood transfusions and was still unable to breathe through her nose or sleep properly.

The trial continues.