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A woman was blinded in one eye after her friend stamped on her face while wearing “lethal” stiletto heels, a court has heard. Melissa Causer, 21, stood on her friend, Sophie Robinson’s face, piercing her eyeball with her stilettos after the pair argued over a taxi fare after a night out, a jury was told. Giving evidence from behind a screen, Robinson, 20, told Teesside Crown Court how she was pinned to the ground, repeatedly punched, and stamped on three times after her best friend became “infuriated and violent”.

She said the third blow from the heel of the silver shoes caused “excruciating pain” and then a burning sensation in her right eye.
Robinson said she and Causer had travelled from Darlington to Middlesbrough for a night out on January 10 this year.

After a trouble-free evening, Robinson went to find a taxi but could not persuade her friend to join her, prosecutor Richard Bennett told the court.
Robinson took a taxi by herself and arrived at Causer’s home in Middleton-St-George, near Darlington, ten minutes before her friend got there in another cab.
There was a discussion about money for the second taxi before Causer is said to have knocked her friend to the ground and attacked her.

The prosecutor told the court: “The very last thing Sophie Robinson saw with both of her eyes was that Melissa stamped on her face.
“The first two blows avoided her eyes, but, unfortunately, the third blow with those stiletto heels went into her eyeball and split it.

“She had no idea at that stage how serious and catastrophic the injury was . . . the shoe heel penetrated the eyeball, causing immediate and irreparable damage.
“The heels of those shoes are a very lethal weapon if, indeed, they were used as a weapon.
“It is the prosecution’s case that Melissa Causer intended to cause really serious bodily harm.”

Under cross-examination, Robinson denied pulling her friend from her cab by the hair.
She also disputed that there was a scuffle in which they were both hitting each other, and that Causer had taken her shoes off in the car.
Causer denies causing grievous bodily harm with intent and grievous bodily harm.

The trial continues. – AP