A MAN accused of repeatedly hitting a teenage boy with a bat on Portland has told a jury he was acting in self-defence.

Alexander William Graham, 56, of Fleet View in Wyke Regis, is standing trial at Dorchester Crown Court where he denies a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Prosecutor Simon Foster previously told the court how the incident took place on December 1, 2009, in Harding House in Woolcombe Road, on Portland after an altercation took place in the block of flats between a group of teenagers and Graham and his wife, Tanya.

Prosecution witnesses told how Graham produced a weapon, described by varying witnesses as a bat, a metal pole and a wooden truncheon, and repeatedly hit the boy who cannot be named because of his age.

However, Francisca Da Costa told jurors that it was the boy who was the aggressor and there was never any weapon.

The court also heard that Graham was recovering from a serious operation at the time of the alleged assault.

Graham said: “The boy was being very aggressive towards me.

“I was hit once in the face which knocked my false teeth out. I was put in a headlock and I felt punches. I stated lashing out to try and stop the person.”

Mr Foster, in his closing speech, said it was Graham who ‘set upon’ the boy. However, Miss Da Costa said: “It seems that the truth has been twisted and Mr Graham has been changed from the victim to the aggressor.”

The trial continues.