Harpoon 'kept instead of a gun'

Nathan Kirk is said to have the cord on the harpoon

A man who blinded a teenager in one eye by firing a scuba harpoon into his face kept the weapon as an alternative to a gun, a court has heard.

Nathan Kirk, 25, cut the cord linking the three-pronged harpoon to the gun and had been practice-firing it in his house, the prosecution allege.

He is accused of firing it at Matthew Hawkins, then 15, during a vicious fight in Thatcham, Berkshire in 2003.

Mr Kirk denies causing GBH with intent and having an offensive weapon.

In that house he has that dreadful weapon with him, and it's kept, is it not, as a weapon Julian Baughan QC Prosecuting

The fight was said to have been sparked by Mr Kirk's alleged warning to the teenager not to vandalise a phone box near his girlfriend's home in Thatcham, Berkshire.

The teenager and two older men turned up at the house after the alleged confrontation near the phone box.

Mr Kirk, of Upper Inkpen, Hungerford, Berkshire, was stabbed first, with the knife narrowly missing his heart.

He was bleeding so much one witness said he thought he was wearing a red t-shirt even though the defendant was bare-chested.

Despite his injuries, he retrieved the harpoon and fired it at the teenager, Reading Crown Court was told.

Prosecutor Julian Baughan QC said the harpoon was like a "modernised bow and arrow".

He told the court that the defendant claimed that he did have a scuba mask and flippers but had given no reason to police as to why they had been separated from the gun which was being kept at his girlfriend's flat.

He said: "He's under attack and in that house he has that dreadful weapon with him, and it's kept, is it not, as a weapon."

The trial continues.