A jury has been urged to convict seven men of murdering Gary Clampett.
John Henderson, 47, Gary Martin, 37, Joseph Martin, 40, Thomas Martin, 45, David Graham, 46, James Connor, 52, and Dean Leech, 25, have been on trial at the High Court in Glasgow for more than a month.
They all deny the charge of murdering Mr Clampett by hitting him with knives, a machete, a sword, a chain, a hammer, a crowbar, bats, golf clubs and poles at Fernie Place, Fraserburgh, on June 18.
Yesterday advocate depute Paul Kearney addressed the jury and said there was clear evidence, both eyewitness and circumstantial, that showed all seven men had acted “in concert” to murder Mr Clampett.
Mr Kearney suggested that the jury had no alternative but to convict Henderson, who had admitted killing Mr Clampett by “striking out” at him with a knife and dismissed his claims that he had not planned to attack him.
He revealed that Henderson had pleaded guilty to culpable homicide at the beginning of the trial, but said this had been rejected by The Crown.
Henderson had claimed during his evidence that he had taken the knife because he was scared, but claimed the rest of the group were unaware.
The advocate depute said: “If he (Henderson) was scared of violence why did he go at all?
“Why take a knife if he didn’t plan to use it?
“He took it because he intended to use it, just as the others took their weapons with the intention of using them.”
Mr Kearney said there was circumstantial evidence that could connect Gary and Joseph Martin to planning the attack on Mr Clampett in advance.
Gary Martin, he told jurors, had been “angry” about an incident at his sister Alicia’s house earlier that day.
Jurors had previously heard Mr Clampett had attacked Joseph Martin with a bat and damaged the witness’ door.
Mr Kearney told jurors that Constable Pinder gave evidence that Joseph Martin refused to make a complaint to police following the incident and told him he would “sort it himself”.
His wife Kelly, the trial heard, had been in a long-running feud with the Clampetts, with disputes between the neighbours taking place just hours before the incident.
Mr Kearney said Mrs Clampett, Rena Sutherland and other eye witnesses had all placed the seven men at the scene, armed with various weapons.
He told jurors that Mrs Clampett had not tried to reduce her and her husband’s own involvement in the disputes leading up to the events at Fernie Place and for that reason her evidence should be considered as reliable.
He said: “Another factor is the speed in which this all happens. The men arrive in the car together. The evidence shows they got out together and they leave together.”
“The short time it takes for these men to arrive, for these injuries to be inflicted and the speed in which they leave (shows their purpose was to attack Mr Clampett).
“If you are going for a rammy, then why the haste?”
CCTV had subsequently captured the men making their way to Leech’s house, where they remained for several hours.
“They all separate and then rendezvous at Dean Leech’s house and stay there for more than two hours,” Mr Kearney said.
“What does that tell you? That the level of violence was not something shocking, not something unexpected but something that was planned beforehand.”
The trial, before Lord Beckett, continues.
