A Dundee man accused of murder told a police officer: “I didn’t mean to kill him,” a trial has heard.
Matthew Pope said alleged victim Michael Given had been a “mate”, but he hit Mr Given in the throat trying to defend himself from a mallet attack.
Pope, 22, denies murdering Mr Given at Elders Court on July 20 or 21 last year and attempting to defeat the ends of justice by removing blood stained clothing.
Constable Gareth Duncan, 38, said he was asked to observe Pope in his cell after he was detained on suspicion of the murder on July 21.
Mr Duncan told the jury Pope said to him: “It’s not my fault, he tried to hit me with a mallet.
“He came to the door with a mallet. It was just a scrap, we’ve had loads in the past. I hit him in the throat after he hit me. It was probably all the drugs he was on.”
Mr Duncan said Pope started to cry at that point. He added Pope told him police took his socks earlier as they had been “covered in blood”.
Pope then told Mr Duncan: “There’s no point denying it. I didn’t mean to kill him. He was my mate.”
The trial also heard evidence from Pope’s girlfriend Melissa McKay, 18, who said she followed Pope up to Mr Given’s sixth-floor flat, where she found the two men fighting in the living room.
She told defence QC Brian McConnachie Mr Given had grabbed a mallet and was “swinging it”.
Mr McConnachie asked: “How did the fight end?”
Miss McKay replied: “I was telling them to stop and Matthew left the flat.” She said Mr Given was still conscious and trying to get up.
Mr McConnachie asked: “Did you think he was in any danger of dying?” She replied: “No.”
Prosecutor Douglas Fairley QC asked Miss McKay why she had not mentioned being in Mr Given’s flat with Pope in her first three police statements.
She said: “I was scared to say the first few times. When you get told someone has died and you were in the house that night, it’s a scary thought.”
Mr Fairley asked: “If a pathologist says that Michael Given had multiple skull fractures as a result of significant force, that’s something you never saw?”
Miss McKay said: “I never saw that.”
Mr Fairley said: “You knew he was either dead or dying.”
“Definitely not,” she replied.
Pope, 22, denies murder and has lodged special defences of incrimination against Ryan Crighton and Aaron McHugh and a special defence of self-defence against Michael Given. The trial continues.