A Nigerian woman who was restrained face down by a group of guards in a detention centre in Britain feared for her life and begged them to stop holding her neck, a court has heard.

The vulnerable 48-year-old, who the Guardian is not naming, a detainee in Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre in Bedfordshire, appeared at Luton magistrates court on Monday charged with assault. She is accused of biting three guards and kicking a fourth while being restrained.

The incident occurred on 30 May 2018, when detention custody officers for Serco, a Home Office sub-contractor, were trying to deliver her to escorts who would put her on a charter flight to Nigeria, which was due to take off from Birmingham airport that evening.

The court heard the woman was resisting because her solicitor had informed her the removal had been cancelled. It was later confirmed that the Home Office had indeed deferred her removal on that evening’s charter flight.

She was on constant watch by guards at the centre because of vulnerabilities due to a risk of self-harm.

In recognition of her vulnerable and traumatised state she did not have to sit in the dock but sat in the main part of the court with a woman providing support.

The judge, Sally Fudge, told her she was free to leave the courtroom without first asking for permission if she became distressed during parts of the evidence, something she did on multiple occasions.

The woman wept at times, as did some of her supporters, when footage of her restraint was played to the court showing her screaming. One of the guards who gave evidence against her, Amanda Harding, also wept during parts of her evidence.

James Brown, a detention operations manager at Yarl’s Wood, told the court that after trying for three hours to persuade the detainee to leave the centre so she could be taken to the airport to board the charter flight it was decided to use force against her. When she saw one of the guards brought a camera into her room to film the planned use of force she took off all her clothes.

Brown described her as “extremely resistant and aggressive”, telling the court: “If a detainee is not compliant we are well within our rights to use necessary and reasonable force.”

He said that officers controlled her head and arms. Asked by James Gwatkin, prosecuting, if he had concerns about the use of force he said no.

Anita Davies, defending, described the camera footage shown to the court. “There are at least five officers restraining her and bringing her to the ground,” she said.

She said that in the footage the woman was crying: “Leave my neck, leave my neck, leave my neck please, my neck, my neck.

“Being in a prone position face down on the floor is risky because of risk of asphyxiation and should be used for as short a time as possible,” said Davies.

Asked if he considered it a sign of distress that the woman removed all of her clothes, Brown said: “It’s a sign of showing non-compliance.”

He disagreed that officers were shouting and said: “I believe voices are raised [in the video footage] trying to get instructions across.

“You were dealing with a woman with a known risk of self-harm repeatedly informing you she was in pain, her neck, her leg. The use of force was disproportionate, wasn’t it?” said Davies. James replied: “I disagree.”

He said the guards did not set removal directions and he believed they would get a financial penalty if they did not deliver a detainee to escorts who was due to be deported on a flight.

Harding told the court: “I was conducting constant supervision on [the woman] as a duty of care. I said it would be in her best interests to present herself to the escorts.”

Describing the moment she was bitten, she said: “I went into shock, at first I didn’t realise what it was.”

She said she was fearful of the possible consequences of the bite. “Given her nationality and where she comes from I had concerns about HIV.”

The case continues.