Accused ‘jumped on baby bump like a trampoline’

The woman also claimed James Paterson, 23, throttled her three times until she blacked out during a string of violent attacks that began when she was between four and five months pregnant.

Paterson denies trying to kill the women, raping two of them and attacking two newborn babies at addresses in Fife and Edinburgh.

Yesterday the 25-year-old mum told the High Court in Aberdeen that Paterson attacked her when he came home from a night out as she lay in bed watching television.

She said: “He just jumped on the bed and kicked his right foot up in my face. He then started kicking me in the stomach, jumping on my belly.

“I said, ‘you’re going to have to stop, you’re going to kill the baby.’

“He said ‘I’m not bothered.’

“He jumped on my belly like it was a trampoline he was bouncing on.

“He started laying in about me. I went to the bathroom, my face was all cut open.

“He butted me in the face, he bust my nose.

“When I woke up I had two black and blue eyes and a swollen lip. My face was a mess.

The woman said on another occasion, when she was pregnant with another child, Paterson jumped on her stomach again. She claimed that he said he was helping her “get rid” of the baby.

The mum said Paterson would threaten her if he suspected she was going to tell the police.

She said: “He said he would shut me in a cupboard, take my phone off me and leave me with no food or water.”

Paterson is charged with causing the woman to lose consciousness by squeezing her neck. He is further accused of forcing her into a car, punching her on the head, repeatedly stamping on her stomach and head-butting her while she was pregnant.

Paterson has lodged a special defence of self defence against the woman and another of his alleged victims.

He is alleged to have attacked and twice raped the other woman. He was alleged to have squeezed her throat until she lost consciousness, kicked her in the stomach while she was pregnant and bitten her on the body.

Paterson is accused of attacking and stabbing another woman, raping her three times and squeezing her neck until she lost consciousness.

He is also accused of pursuing her with a flaming aerosol and detaining her in a car before chasing her in the vehicle and running over her foot.

It’s further claimed he grabbed her by the throat while she was pregnant and held her against a wall while threatening to assault her in order to kill her unborn child.

Paterson was said to have tried to murder all three women, endangered their lives and left them severely injured and permanently disfigured.

He is further accused of attacking two babies, severely injuring one of them and endangering their life, sending threatening text messages to his third alleged victim and failing to appear in court.

The trial, before Lord Malcolm, continues.