A man charged with using his motorbike to pin his former girlfriend to a wall in the centre of Hamilton has admitted unlawful assault causing bodily harm.

But Maxwell Mustapha Smith, 34, denied intentionally using his motorbike to injure the woman, claiming instead that she had hurt herself when she ?ran into it? as he was moving it during a heated exchange in the early hours of the morning.

Already serving time in prison for an earlier assault on the same woman, Smith was remanded in custody to await sentencing for the new matter.

Crown counsel Paula Tyndale said the woman who was injured had been in a two-year relationship with Smith, of Hill Crescent, Spanish Point, Pembroke, which had ended in March this year. On June 24 she was at the Spring Garden restaurant in Washington Lane with friends and had walked out onto Washington Lane around 1 a.m. when she had encountered Smith who was riding his motorbike.

According to the evidence read out by Ms Tyndale, Smith had warned his ex-girlfriend: ?I?m going to knock you the f*** out? and revved his bike and then pinned the woman to a wall where he repeated: ?I?m going to knock you up.?

The Magistrates? Court heard that the woman broke free and ran back to her friends in the restaurant, but had suffered abrasions to one of legs and knee during the incident.

Sometime later while in Police custody for another matter, Smith had been asked about the incident and was informed he was to be charged for unlawful assault to which he replied: ?Bulls**t, whatever?.

Duty defence lawyer Larry Scott, in mitigation, said: ?He admits there was an altercation.

?At the time he was enquiring when he could come and collect the rest of his stuff (from her home).

?She became heated. He tried to move the bike out of the way and she ran into it.

?He said he never assaulted the lady or battered her.

?Any injuries were caused by her trying to get over the bike.?

Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner postponed sentencing until October 27 in order to obtain further details about Smith?s previous record.