A student allegedly struck a housemate with a bat after opening his fridge-freezer and discovering his last Magnum Infinity ice cream bar had been eaten, a court heard.
Hadley Floyd repeatedly lashed out at Viorel Ungur and “trashed” his bedroom at the property they shared in Canterbury, Kent.
Maidstone Crown Court heard the 21-year-old lost his temper when he returned home from a university lecture at about 2pm on November 23 last year and discovered his last ice cream bar had been eaten by Mr Ungur and he had left the empty packet on top of the kitchen worktop.
It is alleged the Romanian national was subjected to several beatings and told he would be killed.
Prosecutor Tayo Adebayo said a neighbour later told police she could hear a man shouting: “You ate my last ice cream. You are a dead man. I am going to kill you.”
Mr Adebayo also told the jury the attack came to a brief halt at one stage but only out of Floyd's “sheer exhaustion” from hitting the Canterbury Christ Church University student.
He suffered cuts and bruises to his neck, chest, back, ribs, arms and a hand.
Floyd, now of Paddock Gardens, East Grinstead, denies assaulting Mr Ungur causing actual bodily harm.
The jury was told he has admitted two offences of damaging property, namely furniture in Mr Ungur’s room and his phone.
The two men were living with a third student in St Peter’s Grove at the time. All three did not have lectures that day, but Floyd did and attended his lecturers as normal.
Mr Ungur told the court Floyd was “very angry” when he discovered the empty Magnum packet. He was also angry at the fact that Mr Ungur did not dispose of the empty packet but more so at fact that the actual ice cream had been eaten.
Floyd confronted Mr Ungur on the upstairs landing after the discovery.
Mr Ungur said Floyd was screaming continuously, swearing and telling him to ‘shut up’ and even called him an "ice cream thief".
With the assistance of an interpreter he told how violence flared after he dodged a punch from Floyd.
It is alleged he then went into Mr Ungur's room armed with a bat and struck out two or three times.
“I managed to take the club from him and immobilize him,” explained Mr Floyd. “I threw the club on the floor. He took it and went to his room. He was mad, he was shouting that he would kill me.”
Mr Ungur continued: “After going to his room he returned immediately. He pinned me on the bed and hit me in the rib area, the shoulder and the hand area.”
Mr Ungur said he managed to take hold of the club and tried to escape. “He was trying to bite my neck, while telling me: ‘I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you’, because he didn't have anything else to hit me with. I held the club.”
Floyd left the room again and Mr Ungur locked the door. Floyd then started to kick at the door, breaking a wooden panel at the bottom to open it.
Mr Ungur, as well as his other housemate, eventually fled the property and waited outside for police to arrive.
During that time Floyd was said to have “trashed” Mr Ungur's room.
“He destroyed the whole room with the club,” added Mr Ungur. “He was swearing and passing racist comments at all times.”
Officers described Floyd as breathing heavily when they arrived. “He appeared agitated and his knuckles were grazed and bleeding on his right hand,” said Mr Adebayo.
When arrested he claimed he did it because Mr Ungur had eaten his last ice cream bar which he was saving to watch with that night's episode of Eastenders and by eating the bar Mr Ungur had "completely ruined his plans."
The prosecutor told the court Floyd admitted hitting Mr Ungur “a fair few times” and going into his room “in the heat of the moment”.
The trial continues.
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