Supermarket worker describes how she confronted man who attacked his girlfriend in busy CBD car park

An innocent bystander has described how they confronted a man after he publicly assaulted his girlfriend and yelled at him to ‘f***ing leave her alone’. The assault was one of many – one incident lasted for 2.5 hours. TRIAL LATEST >>

• A woman was allegedly beaten with a baseball bat during a 2.5-hour assault in a Kings Meadows garage
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A SUPERMARKET worker has described witnessing a man run at his girlfriend and punch her in the head while on break in a busy CBD carpark.

Shelly Jago told the court she walked towards Jake Christopher Morgan and yelled at him to “f***ing leave her alone” after the incident at Wellington St Woolworths in Launceston about 10am on May 1, 2019.

“He started walking towards me with his hands up,” she said.

“He said ‘sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean it’.”

Mr Morgan has pleaded guilty to that assault in the Supreme Court in Launceston, but is currently on trial for stealing and three other alleged assaults against his ex-girlfriend Chloe Jane Brown.

Ms Brown gave evidence on Tuesday describing being dragged from bed by Mr Morgan at 3am on April 26 and assaulted over 2.5 hours in a garage at a Kings Meadows property they were staying at with friends.

She said she was hit in the back with a baseball bat several times, punched several times in the face, grabbed by the throat and pushed forcefully against a brick wall dislocating her shoulder.

Ms Brown said she only managed to escape the garage when she poked Mr Morgan with a pair of scissors in self defence.

Mr Morgan gave evidence on Wednesday, saying he was “very remorseful” about the supermarket assault and that he was upset at the time because he believed he had just found out Ms Brown was being unfaithful and their relationship was coming to an end after 12 months.

He denied assaulting Ms Brown at two other locations in Launceston that day or at the Kings Meadows property on April 26.

He said he was in the garage sitting on a couch alone when Ms Brown entered in the early hours of the morning and began arguing and fighting with him after she had been “up for a few days on methamphetamine”.

Mr Morgan said he pushed Ms Brown out of the way when she “came at” him in a threatening way and the pair went inside the house after about 20 minutes in the shed together where Ms Brown continued “yelling at” him.

He said she refused to leave the property, so he left in a taxi embarrassed that she had woken his friends.

Ms Brown’s uncle Shane Brown gave evidence about picking his niece up from the property about 5am after she called her mother.

He said Ms Brown did not want to go to hospital or call the police, “but being my niece, she had no choice”.

The jury was shown photos taken of Ms Brown’s injuries taken by police while she was in hospital.

The trial will continue on Thursday.