Dr Gary Griffith (pictured) was shot in the stomach by Mark Waterfall, who blamed him for his father's death, a court has heard
A doctor was in his consultation room writing up his notes when a patient came in armed with a crossbow and fired a bolt into his stomach, a court heard today.
Dr Gary Griffith said that before Mark Waterfall fired the metal tipped bolt, he told him: 'You killed my father and I am going to kill you.'
The GP the pulled the bolt from his abdomen and inspected the wound while sitting in his surgery chair, St Albans Crown Court heard.
He told a jury: 'Although the wound was gaping it hadn't gone into the colon.. I had to pull the wound apart to check if it had gone into the bowel. I was still sitting down and I removed the arrow and put it on my desk. I pulled the wound apart to see how far it had gone in.'
As he did so, he said Mr Waterfall looked down at the floor 'dejected' and, realising he had failed to kill him, said: 'I can't even get that right.'
Waterfall, 46, of South Oxhey, Hertfordshire, is on trial after pleading not guilty to a charge of attempted murder.
The crossbow attack unfolded at the Suthergrey House medical centre in Watford
The court heard that, five days before the crossbow incident, the doctor had seen Mr Waterfall's father Terrence at the surgery, who was complaining of 'breathlessness.'
The doctor had arranged for him to attend Watford General Hospital, where he had died the following day.
Prosecutor Martin Mulgrew told the court that Waterfall drove to Dr Griffith's Suthergrey House Medical Centre in Watford on July 10 last year.
The doctor told the jury he had been seeing patients since 7.20am but that, at 11am, Waterfall burst in.
'He stepped into the room and was pointing something at me,' said the doctor.
He said he couldn't tell immediately what it was because
