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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
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    Wick
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    Default Assault trial

    Alleged pole-beater confessed to friend jury at Wick is told

    A COURT heard yesterday that a man accused of beating someone with a pole was said by a friend to have been "grinning" about it shortly afterwards.
    The friend, Brett Webster, said: "I think he was a little glad he had done it and was not remorseful to start with."
    Wick Sheriff Court heard, previously, that the victim, Ewan Macdonald, was so badly injured in the attack in Kennedy Terrace, Wick, that he had to hold onto a wall as he struggled down the street and then collapsed.
    Mr Macdonald, 27, who was working in Wick at the time, needed two operations and the incident shook his confidence and personality.
    Barnetson, 21, of 37 Kinnaird Street, Wick, denies on indictment, assaulting Mr Macdonald to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement and permanent impairment.
    Mr Macdonald, who was working in the area at the time, had been out socialising in Wick, on the night in question, June 26, last year and had been invited back to a house in Kennedy Terrace, by a woman. He was attacked as he left the house and ended up in hospital. Mr Macdonald was off work for an initial five months and has only limited use of his right arm.
    Mr Webster, changed his evidence, yesterday after admitting he had lied on the first day of the trial.
    He now told the jury that he was standing outside a house in neighbouring Cairndhuna Terrace when Barnetson approached him.
    Mr Webster, 23, said the accused told him he had struck the guy on the back of the head, and when he fell over, had kicked and punched him on the ground. Corey was shaking and was nervy and panicky. I rolled him a cigarette and his mood changed and he said what he had done was not good. He was crying at one point and became remorseful. I took him inside the house to calm him down but I didn't see him leave later."
    Asked by the fiscal Fraser Matheson, to describe Barnetson's physique, Mr Webster replied that the accused was "massive...built like a tank".
    Mr Webster added: "He is very recognisable..he towers above everyone else".
    The court heard, previously, from another witness Keira Macleod. The 21-year-old carer had been trying to get to sleep in the upstairs bedroom of her home in Kennedy Terrace when she heard a metallic noise. Looking out of her window she saw a man she recognised as Barnetson repeatedly hitting another man on the ground with a iron bar.
    She said that although Barnetson was hooded, she had no doubt it was him. He had been a former neighbour and they had been in the same class in primary school.
    Cross examined by solicitor George Mathers, Mr Webster admitted that he had lied initially in his evidence previously, but insisted he was now telling the truth.
    Mr Mathers suggested: "You would not know the truth if it hit you in the face."
    Mr Webster denied he was lying because a girl he knew was with Barnetson and, he, Mr Webster wanted revenge but he told the jury: "I am not the jealous type. She can do whatever she wants to."
    The trial continues and is expected to conclude today.
    Last edited by Nwicker60; 17-Feb-17 at 09:44.

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