A JURY will retire this morning (Wednesday) to consider its verdict on an illegal immigrant charged with attempted murder and attempted rape.

Shi Fu Ni, 23, allegedly assaulted a woman at a restaurant near St Ives last November where he had been working, but his colleague Le Lin intervened to stop the attack.

The prosecution alleges that Ni then attacked Mr Lin, his friend of three years, fearing that he would report the matter to the police, throttling him with electrical cable until he lost consciousness. After discovering Mr Lin unconscious, the woman called the police.

Ni denies charges of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm with intent against Mr Lin, and charges of attempted rape and sexual assault against the woman.

Giving evidence on Monday, Ni told the court that he had been drinking heavily on the night, and could not remember between 3am and 5.45am, during which both attacks are alleged to have taken place.

He said he had felt “depressed” after the woman rejected him when he admitted his feelings to her.

He continued drinking, pouring himself another three or four glasses of spirits.

When police arrived, Ni fled but was found hiding from officers under a hedge.

Arresting officer Pc Andy Savidge said Ni was “heavily intoxicated, bloodshot and speaking very slurred, broken English.”

Earlier in the trial, Mr Lin told the court that Ni had put a wire around his neck and said: “I’m afraid you will report me to the police. Sorry.”

Mr Lin said he would not have called the police as he spoke little English and, as illegal immigrants, feared the three would be deported if the authorities became involved.

Making his final speech to the court, prosecutor William Carter said: “You may find it curious that a man can time his memory loss, from 3am to 5.45am. This was not a man in a stupor. This was a man who had capacity to form intent.”

Ligature marks were found around Mr Lin’s neck, with an electrical cable broken at both ends found nearby.

Mr Carter added: “He [Ni] must have exerted the most extreme degree of force and he must have desisted only when Le Lin was lying there lifeless.”

James Mulholland, for Ni, said the prosecution’s case had been built upon “assumption, pre-supposition and prejudice”, urging jurors to see through the “fog of evidence which just doesn’t make sense and doesn’t add up”.

Follow the outcome of the trial at www.huntspost24.co.uk