Former Dundee FC owner Jimmy Marr has gone on trial accused of throwing drinks on a 75-year-old woman then punching her husband and butting her friend.
Marr denies three charges of assault at the High Corner Bar on Kinghorne Road, Dundee, one of 23 pubs owned by his company.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard a charity fundraiser was being held on May 30 last year for Macmillan cancer nurses after one of the pub’s regulars was hit by the disease.
Margaret Morrell, 75, said Marr’s wife Karen was dancing on the seat next to her.
She said Mrs Marr had been holding a glass of wine and was spilling it on people and she asked her to stop.
She said: “Mr Marr came across and said ‘she can do what she f****** likes, this is my pub’.
“He threw a drink over me and said ‘get the f*** out of my pub’.”
Her husband Patrick, 65, said he was outside smoking when a friend came out and told him Marr had thrown a drink on Mrs Morrell.
He said he re-entered the bar and swore at Marr, who punched him, causing him to fall over some chairs.
William Dunn, 60, a friend of Mr and Mrs Morrell, said it had “been a good evening” but “a ruckus started when Jimmy threw drinks over Maggie”.
Mr Dunn added: “He said if we didn’t like it we could ‘f*** off’.
“I said that was out of order.
“He said ‘Out of order?’ then headered me.”
Giving evidence in his defence, Marr said he intervened when one of the men pushed his wife’s leg as she went to stand on a table to dance.
He told the court: “I went over to Karen to see if she was OK. I turned back and Mr Dunn was right in my face, head to head.
“I grabbed him, birled him around and put him out of the pub.”
Marr said he then went to clear glasses from the group’s table so they could not be used in an altercation.
He said he did not butt Mr Dunn but that there had been a “clash of heads”.
He said: “I’ve always been able to talk myself out of situations but this time Mr Dunn was in my face. He wasn’t for listening and that’s when I put him out of the pub.
“I’ve too much to lose. I need to be squeaky clean in these instances.”
Marr, 55, South Drive, Liff, by Dundee, denies three charges of assault.
The trial continues on January 15.