A mental health patient at a Colchester hospital suffered “shocking” injuries after he was assaulted by two care workers, it has been alleged.

The 44-year-old man, who had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act, was being cared for on the red wing at the Cambrian Fairview Hospital when he suffered bruising to his chest and torso, multiple rib fractures and a collapsed lung, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

A staff nurse who removed the man’s shirt and examined him after he complained of chest pains described the bruising as “shocking”, said Richard Kelly, prosecuting.

When he was asked how the injuries happened, the alleged victim said he had been “kicked in” and claimed his carers, Scott Geeson and Lelish Shercan, were responsible.

Mr Kelly said staff at the hospital described the alleged victim, who suffered from schizophrenia, borderline learning difficulties and autism, as “frail, underweight, and weak” .

He said the man was obsessed with smoking and would become agitated if he was not allowed a cigarette and lash out at staff.

Geeson, 27, of Winnock Road, Colchester, and Shercan, 27, of Circus Square, Colchester, have both denied inflicting grievous bodily harm and a less serious alternative charge of ill-treating or wilfully neglecting the alleged victim in June 2016.

Mr Kelly said footwear belonging to the defendants was examined by an expert, who compared it to marks found on the alleged victim’s body and found “limited” support that Shercan’s footwear had come into forceful contact with his chest and “moderate” support for Geeson’s footwear.

“The prosecution case is that these injuries cannot have been inadvertently caused. The injury to his chest must have been caused by severe blunt force trauma,” he said.

“The prosecution suggests that these two men without a shadow of a doubt were the ones who did him in and that they did him in by kicking him,” said Mr Kelly.

“That’s why these marks are in his body and they did it while he was in his bedroom and they were out of camera shot,” he added.

He said that after their arrest the men denied being responsible for the injuries and claimed they had been caused “inadvertently or accidentally” while they were dealing with him.

Mr Kelly said this was “frankly inconceivable”.

The trial continues.