Two teenagers boasted about attacking an Oxford University student after leaving him fighting for his life on a cycle path, a jury heard today.

Craig Knowles and Thomas Mack hit Kentaro Ikeda over the head with his bicycle lock before leaving him lying unconscious and bleeding, John Price, prosecuting, told Oxford Crown Court.

Mack, 18, of Nicholas Avenue, Marston, denies charges of causing actual bodily harm, grievous bodily harm with intent and robbery.

Knowles, 18, of Oxford Road, Old Marston, has admitted the charges.

Mr Price said Mr Ikeda was returning to his home in Marston Road after spending the evening studying at St Edmund Hall when he was attacked in Mesopotamia Walk about 1.45am on July 31 last year.

Mr Price said: “Something happened to him which left him gravely and seriously and permanently injured. He was struck over the head with a heavy implement.

“It fractured his skull and caused him serious brain damage.”

The jury heard Mr Ikeda, a graduate student from Japan, was found unconscious by passers-by after being robbed of his bicycle, rucksack and laptop computer.

Mr Price said earlier the same evening Knowles and Mack were involved in a disturbance at the Bridge nightclub in the city centre.

They assaulted taxi driver Abdul Rehman after throwing a traffic cone in front of his cab.

He said: “The picture that emerges of that night is of two men, Mr Mack and Mr Knowles, going out together, having too much to drink, and setting out looking for trouble together.

“These men were to be heard boasting about what happened, in particular to the unfortunate Mr Ikeda afterwards, almost exalting in it.”

Referring to Mr Ikeda, now 27, he added: “It is a terribly sad incident of somebody being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

The court heard Mr Ikeda was so badly injured he had to be flown home to Japan on a special air ambulance plane.

Reading from text messages allegedly sent by Mack to a friend in the hours after the incident, Mr Price said the messages included: “Mate, you missed out. We threatened a lot of men in The Bridge.

“I punched a Pakistani man in the back of the head and knocked him out and then we threw a cone in front of a taxi. He jumped out and one of my mates beat him up.

“I gave him an upper cut to the face, he could barely walk back to his taxi. LOL [laugh out loud].

“Then we saw a Chinese man on the way back and we beat the **** out of him and robbed his bags and bike. We beat him up badly.

“Mate, you should have been there. That is how the Marston boys roll.”

Mr Price said Mack admitted being at the scene but told police he only watched the attack and did not take part.

The case continues.