A man has denied attempting to murder a north-east university worker with a dumbbell.
Tony Winchester went on trial at the High Court in Aberdeen yesterday accused of attacking 62-year-old William Pirie with the weight on August 21 last year.
It is alleged Winchester “engaged in a fight” with Mr Pirie in a lane outside his home before pushing him to the ground and repeatedly battering him round the head with the dumbbell.
Prosecutors claim that as a result of the attack, which took place between Sunnyside Road and Bedford Place, Aberdeen, Mr Pirie was left with life-threatening and life-changing injuries.
Yesterday, while giving evidence, the 26-year-old accepted striking out at Mr Pirie, but insisted he had acted in self defence.
He claimed Mr Pirie had been angry at him for taking the dumbbells from a nearby skip and had headbutted him.
Winchester said this caused him to “react” by moving his hand and said he accidentally struck Mr Pirie with the weight.
During a joint minute read out to the court, jurors heard Mr Pirie was rushed to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary following the incident which left him “saturated” with his own blood.
He was left with a severely fractured skull which required titanium plates. He also suffered from a blood clot to the brain and gas bubbles within his skull.
As a result of his brain injury Mr Pirie, a heating engineer at Aberdeen University, has had to learn how to speak again and still suffers from seizures.
During the first day of the trial, Mr Pirie told jurors he was out in his back garden looking for his cat when he heard a “metallic” sound.
He said when he went to see what the noise was he saw Winchester rolling a barbell down the lane. He was holding two dumbbells in his hand.
Mr Pirie said he then told Winchester to put the items back where he found them, which caused a fight. He said he then turned round to walk back into his house and was struck to the back of the head. He said the next thing he was aware of was waking up in a hospital bed.
Mr Pirie’s wife Jacqueline also gave evidence yesterday and described the injuries her husband had been left with.
She said: “To start with it really was bad. He would not remember anything. He would get up to make a cup of tea and he wouldn’t know what to do with the teabag. He would put it in the kettle instead of the cup.
“He couldn’t do his crossword puzzles, which he used to do every day, and his speech and cognitive functions were really bad.
“He would see a drum and wouldn’t be able to tell you what the word for it was. All he could do is make a beat.”
The case, before Lord Beckett, continues.
