by Keith Hunt

A clash in the street late at night led to a man bleeding heavily from bites to his face, a court heard today.

But his alleged attacker, Keith Innes, was cleared of assault after claiming he acted in self-defence.

Keith Innes, 21, said he retaliated because Alekzander Boyer pushed his thumbs into his eyes.

Mr Boyer, an area manager for a security firm, said he went to get something to eat with a Polish flatmate called Greg at around midnight on October 23 last year.

They saw a woman on Star Hill, Rochester, he said, and then Mr Innes barged into Greg.

Mr Boyer, who served in the armed forces, said Greg did not speak very good English, so he told he to step out of the way.

Mr Boyer claimed he turned to face Mr Innes and his shoulders were grabbed.

"He bit me on my right cheek," he said. "I grabbed hold of him any way I could to try to pull him off my face, but he kept biting hard.

"I felt blood coming down the side of my neck. I asked him the reason he had done this. I pointed at the side of my face and said: 'Look what you have done, you ******* idiot."

"My T-shirt had a considerable amount of blood on it. I continued to confront him about what he had done.

"We ended up close together again. He grabbed me again and bit me on my chin. It caused a laceration which ended up having five or six stitches in it.

"I pulled him off again. He started jumping around as if he was some sort of boxer. The police arrived."

Mr Boyer said he remembered grabbing Mr Innes around the face a couple of times.

"I was doing everything I could to get him off me," he added.

Mr Innes, of Redland Shaw, Rochester, denied assault causing actual bodily harm.

He told the jury he bit Mr Boyer in the face because he stuck his thumbs in his eyes and he feared he could be blinded.