A court has been told two men were seen fleeing the scene of a brutal attempted axe murder in a north-east town moments after it happened.
Witnesses recalled seeing the pair, dressed in black and with one carrying a large holdall, running down a lane between houses and into a car following the assault on Clinton Drive, Sandhaven, on November 21 last year.
Allan Roy was found by police covered in blood, doubled-over and clutching his stomach.
Brandon Douglas, Martin Gemmell and Brandon Wilson are on trial at the High Court in Aberdeen accused of using an axe and knives to attack him along with another unnamed assailant.
It is alleged the trio demanded drugs and money from Mr Roy, before striking him with weapons and punching him.
Prosecutors also allege they used an axe to try to break down the door of a bathroom, Mr Roy had locked himself inside before making off with a games console, two mobile phones and a quantity of drugs.
Yesterday the court heard from Shaun Bruce and Caroline Russell, who told police they had seen two men running away from Clinton Drive around the time of the incident.
They said the men entered and drove off in a turquoise Honda Jazz – and believed they had seen the same car, and the same two men, at a nearby petrol station earlier in the day.
Jurors were shown CCTV footage from inside the Watermill Service Station in Fraserburgh from that evening, with Miss Russell and Mr Bruce identifying themselves and the two men standing in a queue at the same time.
Advocate depute Alan Cameron, prosecuting, asked Miss Russell if she knew the men and was therefore able to recognise them.
She replied: “I knew they weren’t from the Broch. Everybody knows everybody there.”
Douglas, 18, and 28-year-old Gemmell, whose address was given as Constitution Street in Peterhead, are also accused of holding a knife to a man’s throat and stealing a bank card, mobile phone and air rifle.
In addition Wilson, 22, is facing two charges of possessing drugs.
The men deny all of the accusations and the trial, before Judge Frank Mulholland, continues.
