Angry customer accused of assault, arson targeting a Barrow Creek Hotel employee faces court

A MAN accused of assaulting a female hotel employee several times, including attempting to stab her and setting fire to her car, has faced the first day of his trial in the Supreme Court where he’s facing four charges.

A man accused of assaulting a female hotel employee several times, including attempting to stab her and setting fire to her car, has faced the first day of his trial in the Supreme Court where he’s facing four charges.

A MAN accused of assaulting a female hotel employee several times, including attempting to stab her and setting fire to her car, has faced the first day of his trial in the Supreme Court where he’s facing four charges.

Colin Williams pleaded not guilty yesterday to two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of arson, alleged to have occurred over a 48-hour period from July 7 last year.

Williams pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault after he hit Barrow Creek Hotel employee Janis Miller over the head with a bottle of Worcestershire sauce during an argument at a grocery store on July 7, 2019, “essentially because she asked him to keep a closer eye on his son”.

Crown Prosecutor Carly Ingles told the jury that over three days in July 2019, Williams allegedly further assaulted Ms Miller on two occasions and twice set fire to her vehicle after the physical argument.

The court heard she had served Williams at the bar and adjacent grocery store where she worked about 10 times before.

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Ms Miller described her first impressions of Collins as “very quiet and shy” and said she had had no issues with him prior to Sunday, July 7.

The day after the supermarket incident, Ms Miller was at work when her car was lit on fire. She told the court she saw a young man running away from the hotel but she did not see his face.

On another occasion Ms Miller said she was “punched in the side of the head” while going to the bathroom while at work at the pub, and she chased the person out but did not see who it was as it was dark, the court heard.

Ms Miller told the court that on the night of Monday, July 8, Williams came to her accommodation and stabbed her with a sharp object.

“I was lying in bed when I heard a knock on the door,” she said.

“When I opened the door that’s when I got the knife in the stomach.”

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Ms Miller said she saw it was Williams due to her bedside lamp being on.

“I tried to fight him off … then he ran off,” Ms Miller said.

Said she suffered a cut to her stomach that “wasn’t bad … was more or less a graze”.

Ms Miller said the two days “were horrible” and she had “never been so scared in my life”.

The trial continues tomorrow.