Murder accused Ricky Whelan told police the sight of Stephen MacLeod being repeatedly kicked in the head "scared the hell out of me" and that he felt physically sick and "like spewing" when he later heard the alleged bashing victim had taken a turn for the worse, Newcastle Supreme Court has heard.
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Mr Whelan, now 28, his friend Kris Mitchison and Mr Mitchison's mother Caron Anne Wells have been charged with Mr MacLeod's murder, with the prosecution arguing the group were parties to a joint criminal enterprise to "pay back" Mr MacLeod for an assault on Ms Wells.
Mr MacLeod was allegedly bashed by the trio at a home in East Maitland about 4am on March 16, 2014 and 10 days later succumbed to the injuries he suffered, which included a bleed to an artery at the back of his brain.
A Newcastle Supreme Court jury on Monday played the three accused's police interviews, with Mr Whelan telling detectives he had punched Mr MacLeod in "self defence" after Mr MacLeod swung a couple of punches at him.
Mr Whelan said he and Mr Mitchison had knocked on Ms Wells's front door after a night out in Maitland.
"As she's opened the door she's really distraught and upset and she had dark eyes, like two black eyes," Mr Whelan told detectives.
"The first words she said to me and Kris is: "I want him out of my house, I want him gone".
"We went inside to look for him, not to do anything.
"We've seen him and we've grabbed him to drag him outside and as I've grabbed him he's turned around and he's swung and I've just retaliated, I hit him once and that's all I done.
"I sort of caught him as he fell.
"And as he fell he got kicked by Kris and several times by Karen and I covered over the top of him and said: "No you can't do that"."
The court heard Mr Whelan was then involved in a scuffle with a neighbour, who had come to check on Mr MacLeod.
He is alleged to have punched the neighbour in the face, but said he did it in self defence.
"In both cases it was self defence," Mr Whelan said.
"[Mr MacLeod] swung at me first and I just retaliated.
"I stopped Karen and Chris from kicking him, which I thought was the right thing to do.
"As with out the front when [the neighbour] grabbed me around the throat it was just instinct to get out of it.
"I don't even know if I did hit him it was just a blur, because I couldn't breath and I just had to get away."
Mr Whelan told detectives that after apologising to the neighbour he went back into the house where he saw Ms Wells "still kicking into Steve while he was laying on the bed".
The trial, before Justice Robert Hulme, continues.
Newcastle Herald
