DNA tests have led to the trial of a man more than a decade after an intruder used a metal bar to viciously bash a woman in her kitchen, a jury has been told.
The man, whose name is suppressed, has pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of Nanette Clarke on August 19, 2003, at her home in Port Lincoln on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula.
Opening the Supreme Court trial on Monday, prosecutor Peter Longson said police did not obtain a sample of the accused man's DNA until 2013.
He told the jurors that undoubtedly the question of "Why would he do this?" would crop up in their minds during the trial, but he stressed the crown did not have to prove motive.
Ms Clarke lived with her partner, Neil Evans, who went fishing with her son on the evening of the attack.
After putting her cocker spaniel, Rusty, in his kennel and getting into bed, she heard a noise in the kitchen. When she investigated, she saw the back of a man who was holding a metal bar.
"Almost immediately, and without saying anything, the male started to strike her to the head with the bar," Mr Longson said.
As blood poured from her head, she kneed him in the groin and tried to grab his face, before screaming: "Why are you doing this to me?".
Mr Evans and her son found her lying face down in her car with a trail of blood leading into the kitchen.
Rusty was found at a house a few kilometres away.
Mr Evans kept his fishing gear at the address, which was where the accused man lived.
The prosecutor said nothing had been stolen, Ms Clarke's house was not ransacked and forensic tests showed she was not sexually assaulted.
DNA evidence would be an important feature of the trial, he added.
The man's DNA profile was found on a number of items including the iron bar, a balaclava and part of a disposable glove.
Defence lawyer Heather Stokes said the case was a whodunit and jurors would not just have to weigh the DNA evidence.
Other evidence included the description Ms Clarke gave to police of her attacker and observations made in Port Lincoln about people fitting the description.
The trial is continuing.
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