Mum wounded in air rifle shooting; COURT: Man denies firing at victim left with part of pellet in head.

Byline: By Ross McCarthy

A MOTHER on her way to pick up her children from school was shot in the head by a man taking pot-shots with an air rifle, Birmingham crown court was told.

Part of a pellet lodged in the woman's head and she had to have the metal removed at hospital.

Paul White, 29, of Meaburn Road, Selly Oak, has denied charges of wounding and possessing an air rifle.

Walter Bealby, prosecuting, said Elke Krause was walking along Albert Road, Handsworth, on March 26 last year when she heard a bang.

She then felt a pain in the left side of her head and saw blood dripping onto the pavement.

"Mrs Krause was somewhat traumatised by the incident, as you might expect, and started shaking and felt out of breath," said Mr Bealby.

He said she noticed a metal pellet on the floor and when she looked up to see where the noise had come from saw an open window in a two-storey block.

Mrs Krause was taken to the City Hospital where she had an X-ray and had part of an air rifle pellet removed after being given a local anaesthetic.

Police who examined the area found two further pellets and when officers went to the flat from where they had been fired, found a telescopic lens on the top of a chest of drawers, said Mr Bealby.

He said White was the occupant of the flat and that a Chinese-made air rifle was discovered under a mattress.

White, he said, later gave a prepared statement to the police saying he had been in the flat with a friend and had been showing him the air rifle when he accidentally activated the trigger.

Mr Bealby said this was a false account because there was evidence that three shots had been fired.

(Proceeding)