A mum has described how a crowd armed with weapons surrounded a man on the street on the night he died.
Gary Clampett died at an address on Fernie Place, Fraserburgh last summer, following reports of a disturbance.
A murder investigation was launched, and eight men are currently on trial at the High Court in Glasgow accused of killing the 39-year-old by hitting him with knives, a machete, a sword, a chain, a hammer, a crowbar, a wrench, a stick, bats, golf clubs, poles and a metal bat.
Yesterday, Rena Sutherland told the court she had been with Mr Clampett and his wife, Sharon, when they went to visit Mrs Clampett’s brother in the early hours of June 18 last year.
The 40-year-old, from Fraserburgh, said that shortly after they arrived, a blue or purplish car pulled up outside and a number of people got out.
She said that she thought people also came from a nearby lane and added: “Gary went left and I went right. Sharon was behind us.”
The mother-of-three added: “I didn’t see much from where I was. I saw someone with a claw hammer in their hand. I just saw a hand up in the air.
“I couldn’t see Gary properly for the crowd. I just saw a crowd of people round him.”
Advocate depute Paul Kearney asked if she saw anything else, to which she replied: “It was a sharp object or a sword, something like that because of the shine and length of it.”
The court heard that minutes later, a group of people went into the car and sped off. Mrs Sutherland said she threw a stone at the car and managed to shatter the rear window.
Mrs Sutherland said she then went back into the house, and saw Mr Clampett standing in his brother-in-law’s kitchen.
She said: “He was standing holding onto the sink. There was blood coming from his head.
“He was very discoloured, white. He was dazed and holding onto the work top.”
Another witness, Lorna Lindsay, told the court that at about 2.30am, Mr Clampett, his wife and Mrs Sutherland had come to her house looking for a woman called Toni Pugh.
She said that Ms Pugh did not live there, but described Mr Clampett as “bouncing up and down” – and admitted she thought he was “on something”.
The court heard the trio had been looking for Ms Pugh because she had been posting abusive messages online about Mrs Clampett’s mother, Anne Graham, that night.
Mrs Graham was upset because it was the birthday of her late husband Gordon, who died in a fire in Fraserburgh in 1998.
Earlier, Mrs Clampett, had wept as she told the jury her late husband was a family man who “just cared about the kids” and that they led a private life.
John Henderson, 47, Gary Martin, 37, Joseph Martin, 40, Thomas Martin ,45, David Graham, 46, Barry Martin, 32, James Connor ,52, and Dean Leech, 25, deny murdering Mr Clampett.
During her evidence, Mrs Clampett told the court the last words she heard her husband say referenced Barry Martin.
However, she said she did not see him on Fernie Place, Fraserburgh, the night her husband died.
The trial, before judge Lord Beckett, continues.
