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A gay teen was attacked by his roommate with a hammer as he slept on his first night at their apartment in Kent, a court has heard.

Police found Connor Huntley, 18, alive on his blood-spattered airbed in May last year but with the claw hammer embedded in his head.

He was taken to hospital and treated for a depressed skull fracture and a penetrating brain injury but was left braindamaged by the attack.

His attacker, Joseph Williams, 21, denies attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm with intent. He told the prosecution that there was no reason for the attack but his mental health had ‘deteriorated.’

The two men did not know previously each other but had been put together by their landlord. The victim often wore women’s clothes and makeup while Williams was from a Catholic background and had made ‘disparaging comments about gay people’ in the past, jurors were told.

The court heard that Huntley moved into the apartment on the day of the attack at 11am. He spent the day cleaning the apartment with his friends while Williams visited his girlfriend. Williams came back at 5.10am and attacked Huntley while he slept.

A friend of the victim came to the apartment at 10.30am the next day but Williams said he was still asleep. He then dialed 999 and told the operator what he had done.

'The Crown says that to hit someone more than once with a hammer in their sleep hard enough for the hammer to be embedded in their head clearly demonstrates an intention to kill them,' the BBC reported prosecuter Philip Bennetts QC as saying.

The trial continues.

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