A jury is to consider its verdict today in the case of an Aberdeen bouncer accused of killing a north-east dad outside a city centre bar.
Jonas Marcius has been on trial at the High Court in Aberdeen for the last three weeks accused of murdering 26-year-old Craig Grant outside Tonik in Bon Accord Street.
Marcius denies the charge, which is alleged to have taken place between August 8 and 9 this year, and his counsel Mark Stewart QC has lodged a special defence of self defence.
Marcius, of 16 Merkland Road, Aberdeen, is alleged to have killed him by seizing him by the neck and forcing him to the ground before placing him in a choke hold and compressing his neck.
During the trial a jury of ten women and five men were shown CCTV footage of the moment Mr Grant was taken to the ground and restrained by three bouncers.
Adrian Morely, who could be seen holding his legs, and Kiel Hauley, who was restraining his arm up his back, had also been on trial accused of murdering the young dad.
However after more than a week of evidence advocate depute James Keegan, QC, prosecuting, decided to drop the charge against Morley and accepted Hauley’s plea to a lesser charge of assault.
It is alleged that while the other two were restraining Mr Grant in that way Marcius had him in a head lock.
The Crown has argued throughout the trial it was this action which killed Mr Grant by causing his airways to be restricted.
Mr Keegan yesterday urged the jury to believe that Mr Grant’s cause of death was mechanical asphyxia. He said if they believed this to be the case they should convict the 23-year-old of murder if they believe it was done with wicked intent.
He said, at the very least if not wicked, the actions would have been culpable and asked them to convict of culpable homicide instead of murder.
However while acting for the accused throughout the trial, Mr Stewart has argued that it is not possible to determine the cause of death, given cocaine was found within his system during examination.
Giving evidence for the defence earlier this week forensic pathologist Dr Marjorie Turner said that in her opinion she could not rule out that Mr Grant’s death might have been caused by an irregular heart beat brought on by his use of the class-A drug.
She said: “There is no way that you can definitively tell that this man died from mechanical asphyxiation of the neck when you have two potential causes.”
Jurors are expected to return their verdict today.
