A woman told a jury she thought she was going to die as her ex-lover beat her after abducting her in his taxi.

However in Supreme Court yesterday the defence tried to paint complainant Nicole Lambert as a drug-using prostitute who knew the accused, Lloyd Hilton Smith, because he was a client.

Smith, 53, of no fixed abode, has pleaded not guilty to unlawfully attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent to Nicole Lambert, depriving her of her freedom and to being in possession of an offensive weapon, namely a pipe, on March 1 of last year in Turtle Bay Crescent, Southampton.

Ms Lambert told the seven woman, five man jury that she had been drinking in the Southampton Arms on February 28 last year and had left at the 10 p.m. closing time and returned to her home in Middle Road, Southampton. At around 1 a.m. she left to visit a female friend at Five Star Island and walked out on to Middle Road where Smith happened to pick her up.

She said she immediately recognised him and they talked about church denominations as they headed west but she became frightened when he turned at Barnes Corner into South Shore Road.

According to Ms Lambert, Smith refused to respond when she asked where they were going and they ended up in Turtle Bay Crescent. Smith, who she said had been in a relationship with her years ago, ignored her requests to leave.

"I though he would snap," said Ms Lambert. "That's why I had to leave this man because of that situation."

She began crying as she said: "I thought I would get out and walk but the bushes were in the way." She managed to move away but saw something in his hands.

"He said 'You better start screaming'.

"I started running, I could not get very far in those shoes, he got to me and held me."

She told the jury she tried to play it cool. She said Smith said he would not hurt her and denied having a weapon.

Ms Lambert said she carried a knife for protection but it slipped out of her hand to the ground. "He reached over me, picked up something," she said, before adding that she was then knocked on to her knees and dragged by her hair towards the taxi.

She testified: "He said 'I know about you and Dr. Ewart Brown, we know about you, you bitch. You are messing with Dr. Brown and those guys'.

"He was gone ? all that stuff was off-the-wall stuff."

Blows rained down on her. "I was trying to avoid the blows. I was lying on the ground. Something heavy with a pointy end went through my eye, I could not see. I kept saying 'I cannot see'. I was afraid of him."

The onslaught began to slow as her attacker ran out of strength said Ms Lambert. "That thing was heavy."

She said Smith told her he would have to murder her to stop her telling about the attack. "I told him I loved him because he was going to kill me. You are afraid for your life, you have got to say something.

"I started to get cold and was shaking. He was on top of me. My body appeared to be in shock. I thought my life was over. I could not do anything, I was cold. I could not see. I didn't know if he was going to get a knife."

She said Smith then picked up her shoes and tried to put them on her but one of her feet was swollen. He then carried her to the taxi. "I was still in shock. I kept saying 'thirsty, thirsty', my throat was dry."

Smith then took her to Warwick Gas station, she said, and put salt water on her face. "He was trying to clean me. It was hurting."

Smith also daubed on Vaseline which hurt too said Ms Lambert. She was then returned to where she first got in the taxi and carried to the steps where Smith left after warning her to make up a tale about her injuries.

"He said 'You got in a car accident or a bike accident or I will come back and finish you off'. That's what I was supposed to say."

Her flatmate heard her calling out by her window on Middle Road, Southampton and found Ms Lambert in severe pain, motionless and badly injured. Gina DeCosta wept as she told the jury: "I could not believe the condition of her face. I didn't want to touch it, I didn't know what else was wrong with her. She could not move, she could not walk, she could only stand there like a statute. I was scared. I didn't know where to touch her. She could not function."

Ms DeCosta said she then saw Smith drive by in the taxi. Ms. Lambert said she had spent four or five days in hospital. Her left leg had needed a cast, her arms were badly bruised, there was a hole above her eye, her face was swollen, her eyes blackened and there was a foot print on the back of her head, said Ms Lambert.

She denied claims by defence lawyer Mark Pettingill that she had been intimately involved with Smith at the time of the incident or that she had charged him for sex. She said: "He gave me money, but not in exchange for sex. He was my friend."

Ms Lambert denied selling drugs but admitted using crack cocaine which Smith had given her. She said: "I was a regular user at one time when it was given to me. He had his own at that time. He was using it to keep me. If you want the truth, that's the truth OK?"

The complainant said she came off crack last February and she denied she was on her way to a crack house when Smith picked her up. The Crown is represented by Anthony Blackman. The case, in front of Assistant Justice Archibald Warner, continues today.