THE fiancée of a Newport man on trial for the rape and murder of 19-year-old Nikitta Grender gave evidence for the prosecution at his trial yesterday. Ailsa Chalk reports.

THE FIANCÉE of a Newport man accused of raping and murdering a pregnant teenager noticed scratches and bruises on him the next morning, a court heard yesterday.

Carl Whant, 27, of no fixed abode, is on trial at Newport Crown Court charged with murdering Nikitta Grender, child destruction, rape and arson. He denies all the charges.

Miss Grender was just two weeks away from giving birth when she was found dead in the Broadmead Park flat she shared with boyfriend Ryan Mayes on February 5 last year.

Yesterday jury members were shown CCTV footage of Whant in The Greyhound Inn in Newport city centre where he and Mr Mayes spent part of the evening of February 4 with friends.

Giving evidence, Whant's fiancée Rachel Bird told the court she and Whant planned to watch the Six Nations Wales v England fixture at home on February 4 last year, but Whant did not come home after work.

She said he called her at around 5pm to say he was taking a friend to Cardiff and when he didn't come home she rang him several times throughout the night with no answer.

Miss Bird said: "Whenever he went out, I was always phoning and texting him constantly, because I didn't trust him 100 per cent, in case he was with another girl."

She sat up until around 1am and rang him again before going to bed.

Miss Bird said: "I had no idea where he was. I just assumed he went out with Ryan and Anthony."

Jury members heard she was woken up by her landline ringing at around 5.20am and when she redialled the number, a girl - who she assumed was Miss Grender - answered and then passed the phone to Mr Mayes. Miss Bird told the court Mr Mayes asked her if Whant was with her and she said no.

The next time she saw Whant was the following afternoon when he picked her up from outside Wilkinsons in Newport city centre.

Miss Bird said she had heard of Miss Grender's death by that time and asked Whant if it was anything to do with a drug dealer, but Whant said the dealer "wouldn't be like that."

She said she noticed scratches and bruise marks on Whant's arms, but did not think anything of it at first. Miss Bird told the court Whant told her he had been in an "altercation" with a man during the night out and a girl had grabbed his arm to stop him.

She said she asked him if he was sure there had been a fight later that night, because she was worried the marks were caused by another girl.

Miss Bird said Whant started staying at her house most nights two or three months after they got together in August 2009.

She said whenever Whant stayed she did his washing and on February 5 she washed his clothes, which he left by the washing machine when they got home.

When she went to wash the shirt, she said she noticed a "reddy/orangey" mark on the back, which looked like a pen mark, but she didn't know what it was.

She said she knew Mr Mayes through Whant, but only met Miss Grender three or four times.

Miss Bird said: "I never liked Ryan and never got on with him. My view was that Ryan was a bad influence on Carl. I just never got on with him. I didn't know Nikitta, we didn't have a relationship. She spoke to me if she saw me and I spoke to her."

Miss Bird told the court Whant was "brilliant" with her young son and had never been violent towards her and they had a normal relationship.

After Whant's arrest on February 9 last year, he was examined in custody by Dr Jane Mitchell, accompanied by crime scene investigator Martin Phillips who took photos of Whant.

Dr Mitchell told the court yesterday, she noted "superficial minor injuries" on Whant including three small scabbed over scratches above his right wrist, a bruise on the inside of his right elbow and a mark on his upper arm.

Pub staff say no trouble or fights

JURY members heard evidence from three doormen and a bar worker who were in the Greyhound Inn on the night of February 4.

Greyhound doormen James Hopkins and Robert Andrews and Scott Clissett, who was at the pub after finishing his shift at The Page pub, all told the court they had seen Whant during the evening, but did not see him get into any fights or altercations.

Jill Webb who was working behind the bar in the Greyhound said she had seen a slight "kerfuffle" where someone had spilt another customer's drink, but there were no "bust ups" that she was aware of.

All four said if there had been any incidents they would have been recorded in the pub's incident book.