A man on trial for stabbing a baby to death at a supermarket in Anjo, Aichi Prefecture, in February assaulted a woman in court Thursday just as she testified on how she was wounded during the attack five months ago.
The woman, in her 20s, who took the stand as a prosecution witness at the Nagoya District Court, sustained a forehead wound when Katsunao Ujiie, 34, sprang and hit her from behind.
She was taken to a hospital in an ambulance and her injury will require one week of treatment.
Ujiie later told the judge that he hit her "in a fit of rage after hearing her voice." Officials said it was the first time in the history of the Nagoya court that a defendant assaulted a witness in court.