Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
I’m sorry, says murder accused
Tells trial that he acted in self defence
A Coatbridge man accused of murdering a former workmate broke down in the dock this week as he told a jury he was “devastated” by the man’s death.
Scott Agnew, 29, denies stabbing Stewart “Chico” Rexter to death with a screwdriver in Airdrie on November 3 last year and claims he acted in selfdefence.
Giving evidence on Monday, Agnew claimed Mr Rexter had attacked him first, telling the High Court in Livingston: “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for any of this.
“I definitely didn’t mean to kill him. I wouldn’t want to kill anybody.
“I did not murder that man. I would never do that to any human.
“I had a car, a job, a girlfriend, a wee boy. I didn’t mean to throw all this away.”
Agnew said Mr Rexter owed him £400 but claimed it was not a drugs debt, as other witnesses testified.
He admitted his friends and workmates had been following Rexter around Airdrie and phoning him to tell him where he could be found.
When he eventually caught up with Mr Rexter in Victoria Place, Agnew accelerated his BMW X5 towards him, braked and jumped out of the car in confrontation.
He told the jury: “I says to him, ‘What’s happened about my money?’, and he struck me on the left hand side of the face and said, ‘I’ve got no f****** money’.
“I just felt him punching me on the left-hand side of my face and I realised he had something in his hand. It made contact with my eye and I could feel something scraping right down from my face onto my chest.
“I grabbed his right hand immediately with my left and started punching him with my right hand. I was just trying to get him away from me, like defending myself.”
Agnew, currently a prisoner at HMP Addiewell, said he managed to pull the makeshift weapon out of Rexter’s hand and jabbed it into the side of his face.
He said: “I knew it was metal. I knew it was very thin. I didn’t realise he was badly injured because he walked away after it.
“If I’d realised that was going to happen I would have phoned him an ambulance.”
Stewart Rexter died from irreversible brain damage caused by bleeding inside his skull due to a two-inch deep stab wound in his right temple. He was pronounced dead two days after the incident.
Under cross-examination, Agnew denied telling pals he had repeatedly tried to stab Rexter with the weapon before jabbing it into his skull.
He also denied that he struck the fatal blow with one last swing of his left arm before running back to his car and speeding off.
Advocate depute David Taylor told Agnew: “You’re lying, maybe just to yourself, but you’re lying. Isn’t that the case?” Agnew replied: “No.”
Mr Taylor went on: “The CCTV, every piece of evidence points to you being the murderer of Stewart Rexter, doesn’t it?” Agnew answered: “No.”
Earlier, the court had learned from Agnew’s ex-girlfriend, Lisa Armstrong, 26, that she heard him threatening to stab someone before he stopped the car and attacked a man in the street.
Miss Armstrong said Agnew had received a phone call as he drove her to work saying his friends had “seen a guy called Chico he was looking for”.
She said there were several phone calls from Agnew’s friends during which he asked for Chico to be “kept there” until he arrived.
Miss Armstrong told the court: “He jumped out of the car and the two of them start fighting. It was just really a scuffle and over in a couple of seconds.
“[Afterwards] he was on the phone to his pals again. He said that he’d just stabbed Chico.
“I didn’t say anything because I didn’t know he’d actually done it.
“When we took a left onto Locks Street he brought out a screwdriver and chucked it out the window onto the grass verge.
“I only seen the silver bit of it. It was just a normal size screwdriver.”
Miss Armstrong said that the next day Agnew seemed “shocked” when she told him part of Victoria Place had been cordoned off with police tape.
She added: “He was grey. He looked as if he was upset but I was asking him to go to the police and he wouldn’t.
“Over the weekend I told my mum more about what had happened. I went to the police. I still wanted Scott to go.”
Miss Armstrong said she now wanted nothing more to do with Agnew.
The trial, before Lord Clark, continues.
I did not murder that man. I would never do that to any human. I had a car, a job, a girlfriend, a wee boy. I didn’t mean to throw all this away Scott Agnew