A woman helped two machete-wielding teenagers to launch an alleyway attack which left a homeless man with life-threatening injuries, a court has heard.

Muna Fuggles is alleged to have acted as a "distractor" in the violent and premeditated assault on Henrikas Geralvicius in the early hours of January 27 last year.

Jurors at Maidstone Crown Court were told Fuggles and her boyfriend Luke Samuel met Mr Geralvicius to buy crack cocaine, knowing that Tyler Lucock and his 15-year-old accomplice would attack him.

Armed with weapons, the two youths hid in bushes in Grange Road, Gravesend, before emerging from behind their victim and stabbing him in the back with such force that two ribs were fractured and his diaphragm perforated.

They then cycled off, leaving Mr Geralvicius to stagger a short distance to Pelham Road where he collapsed outside a British Red Cross building.

Fuggles, it was said, left the scene "calmly" with Mr Samuel and did nothing to help the man, despite his "piercing screams" as he was being violently attacked, or to alert emergency services.

But at the start of Fuggles's trial on Wednesday (April 3), prosecutor Rebecca Austin said although the 43-year-old had not wielded a weapon herself or even touched Mr Geralvicius, she and her partner had played a "crucial" role in what happened that night.

"It is the Crown's case this attack was planned and this defendant played a key part," she told the jury.

"The victim was physically larger than his two attackers....so they made sure they had the element of surprise, and did this in a rather clever but obvious way.

"They recruited two crack cocaine users, people the victim would know from the drug-dealing community, and on January 26 last year Mr Samuel called the victim and arranged to meet him to buy crack.

"He chose this location carefully, and directed by Mr Lucock - a quiet alleyway at the end of a residential street. Mr Samuel arrived with his partner, Muna Fuggles.

"She and Mr Samuel were there to act as distractors. Their purpose was to make the victim think this was a perfectly ordinary drug deal. And that's exactly what they did."

The reason for the planned attack, said Ms Austin, was the fact the 42-year-old victim had "the misfortune" of drug-dealing in an area where Mr Lucock ran his own 'TJ' drugs line selling crack cocaine.

The jury was told Mr Lucock had also "recruited and exploited" the younger boy, who had gone missing from his London home, into selling drugs, setting him up at an address in Christian Fields Avenue which had been "cuckooed" - when homes of vulnerable people are used as a drug-dealing base.

On the night of the attack, CCTV showed Fuggles and Mr Samuel heading to the meeting point "in tandem" with Mr Lucock and the youth pushing their bikes just a few metres behind.

Once in Grange Road, they awaited Mr Geralvicius's arrival - Fuggles and her boyfriend in the alleyway while the teenagers lay-in-wait in bushes at the rear of Darnley Pharmacy car park.

It was just a few moments later at around 12.30am that the same CCTV camera captured Mr Geralvicius walking past their hiding place and towards Fuggles and Mr Samuel.

"He didn't know her by name but knew her by sight," said the prosecutor. "We say what better distraction than not only meeting a lone male but a couple.

"There was a female there and he had every reason to believe this was a normal transaction. But within seconds the attack took place.

“As the attack took place, neighbours heard piercing screams…”

"What this case is about is Muna Fuggles, what she knew and what she did. As the attack took place, neighbours heard piercing screams.

"As the victim was screaming, Muna Fuggles was calmly walking away. She and Mr Samuel simply walked back the way they came and, we believe, back to the cuckooed address and then onto their own home."

Explaining why Fuggles, of Medhurst Crescent, Gravesend, had been charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm despite not attacking Mr Geralvicius herself, Ms Austin continued: "We don't place a knife in Muna Fuggles's hand. We don't say she was the one who physically attacked the victim.

"But we say she knew he was going to be attacked....No one called 999 or tried to assist. That's because they knew, she knew, what the plan was.

"She was aware the attack was going to take place and she realised her presence as a distractor provided support for the attackers so they would have an element of surprise.

"It is for the prosecution to make you sure she was a willing part of what happened that night and she knew what was to take place.

"We say she played a part and her role enabled the attackers. As a result of that she is responsible for the injuries he suffered."

The court heard although Fuggles did not have a phone, her boyfriend had been in contact with Mr Lucock as they awaited Mr Geralvicius's arrival.

CCTV had also shown her "pacing" the alley, said Ms Austin.

“We saw what happened but we don't know anything…”

Mr Geralvicius did not initially realise he had been stabbed but, having collapsed bleeding and in pain, was able to dial 999 for an ambulance.

During the call made at 1.10am and played in court, he could be heard groaning, yelling and screaming as he reported being stabbed three times with a machete.

After a few minutes, and with an ambulance en route, the line fell silent before he managed to tell the operator he felt cold.

Mr Geralvicius was eventually found by paramedics and taken to King's College Hospital in London where he underwent emergency surgery.

He subsequently told police he was homeless and had been dealing drugs to not only support himself financially but also his own addiction.

His assailants were later identified by police through CCTV and phone evidence, as well as their clothing, Nike trainers and distinctive bike features.

The younger boy was arrested at Christian Fields Avenue on January 30 last year. A machete - said to be "similar" to but not the one used in the attack - was also found at the property together with crack cocaine.

Mr Lucock, of Taunton Vale, Gravesend, was arrested two days later. Police found a quantity of cannabis at his home.

Fuggles was arrested at the home she shared with Mr Samuel. The court was told that on being cautioned, she replied: "We know nothing. We saw what happened but we don't know anything.

"We were there to score. Two men in black ran away. They were wearing masks."

Fuggles denies inflicting grievous bodily harm and the trial continues.