‘Bottled by neighbour’

A woman was smashed in the face with a bottle in an ongoing feud between battling neighbours, a court heard.

Sherome Williams, 20, attacked Charlotte Bergin as she left her home in Adelaide Grove, Hammersmith, Southwark crown court heard.

Ms Bergin said the incident began after Williams and his mother, Hind Abdelmula, threw bottles from the top floor window after an afternoon’s drinking on July 7, 2020.

‘I heard a bottle smash. It came from a height. I assumed it was down by my window,’ she told the jury.

Ms Bergin said she was annoyed but ignored it.

‘There was another bottle, but this time it hit my bay window and didn’t smash. I could hear it bounce down into the basement.

‘I was going to go out and ask why are you throwing bottles at my house?

‘My son went outside. I heard him saying to Sherome: “Come downstairs and let’s talk about it.”

‘I heard him say: “This isn’t about you and my mum this is about your mum and my mum, so just leave it.”’

After dark, Ms Bergin left the house to avoid the situation.

‘As I came out, I walked past and Hind said: “What are you looking at?”

‘So I turned around and said not everyone looks at you because you’re not a pretty thing.’

Williams and his mother then started shouting and Ms Bergin said to the son to stay out of it.

After walking down the street past a few more houses, Ms Bergin heard footsteps running up behind her.

She tried to turn her head to see but was struck to the ground before she saw who it was.

‘I knew that I’d been hit but I didn’t know what with. I thought it was a fist or something.’

David Kitson, defending, suggested Ms Bergin had been in an argument with Ms Abdelmula as she left her home.

He asked: ‘When you left the flat after you say that Hind made a comment, you just made one response and walked on perfectly calm, did you?’

‘Yes,’ said Ms Bergin.

‘You said to them, “What the f*ck are you looking at?” didn’t you? Because they were looking down on you.’

‘No.’

‘You said to Sherome’s mum, “Go and f*cking die.” That’s why they came down onto the street.’

‘No, I didn’t.’

Prosecutor Bill Gatward alleged that Williams turned up at Ms Bergin’s flat on May 19, 2021, knocking on the window and shouting.

Williams, of Hetley Road, Hammersmith, denies unlawful wounding and intimidating a witness.

The trial continues.