Two men on trial for murdering their housemate in Aberdeen city centre have blamed each other for his death.
Tomas Gulbinavicius, 33, and Janis Karajevs, 30, are accused of killing Aleksejus Zarskus by repeatedly punching and kicking him and stamping on his head at their home on King Street in January this year.
Yesterday at Aberdeen High Court they both denied any wrongdoing.
Gulbinavicius claimed when they got back to the flat he went to sleep but was woken up by the sound of the other two fighting.
He said he came out of his room and saw Karajevs on top of Mr Zarskus punching him and later stamping on his head.
Advocate Depute Ashley Edwards pressed him on why he didn’t answer the door when the police arrived if he had done nothing wrong.
The court previously heard it took officers half an hour to gain access to the property.
She said: “You did that in hope that the police officers would go away, because you did not want to be discovered about what you and Mr Karajevs had done to Mr Zarskus.
“You and Mr Karajevs gave Mr Zarskus a hiding.”
He denied this and claimed he wanted the police go to away so he would avoid trouble with his housing association.
Giving evidence later Karajevs claimed to have seen Mr Zarskus and Gulbinavicius exchanging punches and that he got in the middle and fell down on top of Mr Zarskus.
He also claimed there were gaping holes in his memory due to alcohol consumption.
Defence counsel Murray Macara, representing Gulbinavicius, asked him: “We heard evidence from a forensic scientist that your right sock was saturated with blood, the blood of Aleksejus Zarskus.
“How do you explain this?”
He said: “There was blood on the floor when I fell down.”
He was also asked: “Mr Gulbinavicius was in the same prison as you, he was beaten up in the first week after he was arrested.
“Did you arrange to have him beaten up telling him he had to say he didn’t remember anything?”
He denied this.
The pair deny the charge against them.
The trial, before Lord Uist, continues.
