by Julia Roberts

A Lithuanian wearing steel-capped boots allegedly kicked a man in the head and caused him a fractured eye socket during a doorstep row, a court heard.

Stanislovas Cemnickas, 51, lashed out when Igoris Smirnovas arrived home from a night drinking with friends in Gravesend.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Cemnickas’s wife had been looking after Mr Smirnovas five-year-old son while his wife picked him up from the town at about 11pm on November 4 last year.

When the couple arrived home, Cemnickas, of Elm Road, Gravesend, was said to be shouting and swearing at their front door.

Having asked Cemnickas to calm down, it is alleged that Mr Smirnovas was pushed to the ground and then kicked to his head.

Cemnickas was arrested the following day. He had been wearing his work clothes at the time of the alleged attack and police later found traces of Mr Smirnovas’s blood on his right boot.

Cemnickas denies unlawful wounding. The court heard he initially told police in a prepared statement that Mr Smirnovas had been aggressive and tried to grab him.

“He claimed Mr Smirnovas tried to punch him and that he tried to shake him off,” explained prosecutor Dominic Connolly. “That led to Mr Smirnovas falling to the ground.”

When later confronted with the DNA evidence, Cemnickas made no comment to all questions.

The court heard Mr Smirnovas’s wife, Ceslava Smirnoveue, had been to a fireworks display with her son, Cemnickas’s wife and her daughter on the same evening.

They returned to the Smirnovas home at about 9pm and Mr Smirnovas later telephoned his wife asking her to collect him.

Through an interpreter she told the court her husband “had had drinks” but was not drunk.

Mrs Smirnoveue said she saw Cemnickas walking towards their house as she parked her car. She told the court he appeared to be shouting and swearing at his wife.

“My husband was asking him not to shout and saying: ‘Why are you shouting’, ‘What you don’t like’ and ‘what’s the reason’,” explained Mrs Smirnoveue. “He raised his voice because he had to be louder than Cemnickas.”

She told the court she thought Cemnickas was leaving but when she turned around she saw the two men “close to each other”.

Indicating they were holding each other by their upper clothing, she continued: “He hit my husband - up, down with his hand - and he fell. It was very fast and hit him to the top of his head.”

Mrs Smirnoveue said her husband fell to the ground and was trying to get up when he was kicked.

“Cemnickas kicked him with his foot,” he added. “He kicked him to his head or face. Cemnickas then ran to his car and left.”

The court heard the couple did not immediately call emergency services and Mrs Smirnoveue tried to clean up his injuries.

“We couldn’t stop the bleeding, he was sick and I was scared,” she remarked.
The trial continues.