A 15-year-old boy who was seriously injured after allegedly being shot in the face by a friend in Kesgrave suffered potentially life-threatening injuries, a court has heard.

Consultant forensic pathologist Dr Nat Cary told a jury at Ipswich Crown Court on Friday, June 4: “You see many cases of this sort of wounding which are fatal.

“His injuries were very life-threatening indeed and he only survived because of immediate high-quality care and how he was dealt with afterwards.”

Dr Cary described the boy’s injuries, which included a shattered lower jaw and an injury to the carotid artery, which takes blood to the head and brain, as “absolutely devastating”.

He said they had resulted in partial paralysis, disfigurement and an impact on the boy’s daily life.

He said damage to the carotid artery was “very dangerous” and had resulted in the boy suffering a stroke.

The court has heard that the muzzle of a double barrelled shotgun, which caused the injury to the right side of boy’s face, was less than 5ft away from him when he was blasted in the face.

Dr Cary said the injury caused by the shot was typical of a “close range” discharge and had caused soft tissue and bone damage.

Before the court is a 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named because of his age, who has denied attempted murder, possession of a shotgun with intent to endanger life, wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and possessing a shotgun with intent to cause fear of violence against a man who witnessed the incident.

It has been alleged that the victim was deliberately shot as he was walking to Kesgrave High School on the first day of a new term where he was a pupil.

The prosecution has claimed the defendant set out to kill the boy, who had been a friend, after planning the attack for a year.

A friend later told police that the teenager had been planning the attack for a year but had wrongly assumed the defendant was joking.

The court has heard that on September 7 last year, the defendant took his grandfather’s double barrelled shotgun and drove to Friends Walk in Grange Farm, Kesgrave in his father’s car, where he allegedly lay in wait for more than an hour before shooting the victim.

The boy had a “significant" injury to the side of his face and suffered a stroke after being taken to hospital, which had left him partially paralysed with some brain damage and unable to attend court.

The trial continues.