A Supreme Court jury yesterday heard how a 65-year-old Sandys man was beaten and had his jaw broken by two men who broke into and burgled his nephew's house where he was house-sitting.

The trial of one of the accused men, Derrick Duval Binns, 33 of Cricket Lane Sandys, started in Supreme Court yesterday before a four-man, eight-woman jury in front of Assistant Justice Archibald Warner.

Binns is accused of, and has pleaded not guilty to, burglaring the house in which victim Basil Hassell was staying, as well as wounding with intent to disfigure.

In her opening statement, prosecutor Vinette Graham-Allen assisted by Cindy Clarke told the jury how on the night of December 29 last year, Basil Hassell was house-sitting his nephew Donald Hassell's house on Cambridge Road when he heard a sound coming from one of the doors to the house.

When he went to investigate, he saw two men in the house who attacked him. After some time, the attackers fled and Basil Hassell was able to get to the tenant living in the house's apartment who helped him and called Police.

The first witness in the trial yesterday was Det. Con. Steven Palmer of the Police Forensics unit (formerly the Scenes of Crimes unit) who gave evidence of his role in taking photos and collecting evidence at the scene of the crime, including taking swabs of blood.

The owner of the burgled house in which the assault took place, Donald Hassell then gave evidence. Owner and manager of the Somerset Country Squire, Donald Hassell testified that his uncle was staying at his house and that at the time of the incident, he had been on his Christmas vacation with his wife, two daughters and parents.

Donald Hassell said before he left, he locked every door and window in the house and left his uncle with keys to the house.

Donald Hassell said when his family arrived back from holiday on December 30, one day after the incident took place, he was met at the airport by his father-in-law who told the family about the burglary and assault. Donald Hassell spoke with Somerset Police shortly after and told them he noticed a large tin of coins had gone missing from his bedroom dresser.

Yesterday afternoon, assault victim Basil Hassell took the witness stand and described the events leading up to his assault.

He said early in the afternoon on December 28 he went to the Bank of Bermuda where he withdrew between $300 and $400 which he put in a blue money pouch before going to the Marketplace where he bought some food.

He later went to the Somerset Country Squire where he had a few beers with three other men before going to his nephew's house to feed his animals.

After tending to his animals, he went inside to prepare soup for dinner and had another beer. As it was getting late, Mr. Hassell turned his soup off, left it and went to bed on a mattress in the living room, leaving his money bag on the chair beside him with his clothes.

Mr. Hassell testified that he got up about 5.30 a.m. to go to the bathroom and went back to bed. He then said he heard a strange noise at about 6 a.m., like the sound of a doorknob turning. He got up to investigate and when he walked into the dinning room, he saw two men trying to hide behind a cabinet.

Mr. Hassell then testified that one of the men grabbed him by the neck and they both fell to the floor as they wrestled each other.

Mr. Hassell said that while one attacker held him on the floor by his neck, the other attacker was kicking him.

He said that the struggle went on for about an hour, and that the attacker who was on the floor with him kept asking the other man for help.

Mr. Hassell said the struggle came to an end when he managed to grab the neck of the man who held him on the floor and push him away. He said the men asked him where the money was, and Mr. Hassell said he would show them if he let him up.

Mr. Hassell then testified that he must have blacked out as the next thing he remembers was going to the apartment for help.

When Ms Graham-Allen asked what had happened to him in the attack, Mr. Hassell said he was bleeding from his ears and face.

Shortly after summoning help, the Fire Department and an ambulance arrived to take Mr. Hassell to King Edward Memorial Hospital where he was admitted and treated for a broken jaw and not discharged until January 21.

Ms Graham-Allen also asked if he could use his jaw properly now, to which Mr. Hassell replied: "No."

Under cross examination by defence attorney Victoria Pearman, assited by Craig Attridge, much of the late afternoon was taken up with Ms Pearman trying to establish which of the two attackers was taller than the other, as in testimony, Mr. Hassell said the taller was the man on trial, Binns, while in his statement to Police shortly after the incident, he said the other man was taller.

After some time trying to establish exactly which of the men was taller, Mr. Hassell insisted that he was "fighting for his life", and did not have the time to size up his attackers.

The first day of the trial ended on this discrepancy and the trial was adjourned until this morning.