‘He was desperate for sex on the settee – so I chucked hot coffee on him’

A mother-of-three accused of hurling steaming coffee in her ex-partner’s face as he slept said she spilled it on him as he pestered her for sex on the settee.

Dionne Knight, 48, allegedly threw the scalding liquid over Randall Bennett when he said he was going to the Caribbean with another woman.

Mr Bennett said he woke up in agony after he dozing off on the couch after celebrating Knight’s birthday at her home in Thornton Heath, south London.

Knight told the Old Bailey she had made coffee in her kitchen when her former lover grabbed her from behind and pulled her into the living room for sex.

‘I said, ‘what are you doing? If you want a coffee, let me make the coffee,’ she said.

‘He pulled my head back and said: ‘come, I want some sex right on the sofa.”

She said Mr Bennett slapped her in the face and walked back to the living room, where he sat down on the settee.

Knight told jurors she spilled the freshly-made coffee on Mr Bennett’s face and left arm when he came back into the kitchen and dragged her towards the settee in the living room.

Prosecutor Alex Kettle-Williams asked Knight how it was possible that Mr Bennett’s entire face was burned if she had been holding the jug in her right hand with her back to him.

Knight replied: ‘I was in the kitchen when he grabbed me by my hair. He was pulling me backwards towards the settee.’

Ms Kettle-Williams said: ‘I am suggesting that you were angry with Mr Bennett and that you intentionally poured the coffee on him.’

Knight replied: ‘I wouldn’t never do nothing to hurt that man.’

Asked why she ran away from her house after the incident Knight replied: ‘He’s a dangerous man.’

Knight admitted the first time she realised that Mr Bennett was serious about taking another woman to Jamaica was on the night in question.

‘Yes, I was angry,’ Knight said. ‘That’s why I said I wouldn’t have sex with him at all.’

Earlier Mr Bennett told the jury the couple kept in contact after their 2013 split because they have three children together.

He said he had taken Knight and their 13-year-old daughter to the cinema on 14 November, adding: ‘My daughter told me that I would like me, you and my mum to go out to watch a film for her birthday.’

They got back to Knight’s house at after 1am and stayed up drinking as their girl went to bed.

Mr Bennett said: ‘When she brought out the Baileys and the rum I said: ‘You have brought out so much alcohol.’

‘She said it was her birthday and she wanted to enjoy herself.’

Asked what could have sparked Knight’s alleged attack after he dozed off on the settee, Mr Bennett replied: ‘The atmosphere changed when she asked me if I’m really going to Jamaica with that woman and I said yes I’m going.’

Describing the aftermath of the alleged attack, he said: ‘The only thing I remember when I woke up is the heat in my face.

‘It was a horrible feeling to be honest, lots of heat in my face just flashed up.’

He was injected with fluid to treat his burns at Mayday University Hospital, before receiving further treatment at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, the next day.

Knight, of (4) Zion Place, Thornton Heath, denies wounding with intent causing grievous bodily harm.

The trial continues.
ends