Woman said she witnessed stabbing

The former girlfriend of a murder accused told a court this week that he stabbed a friend in her Perth home following a confrontation.

Shannon Beattie said that she and Robbie Smullen - who stands accused of murdering Barry Dixon (pictured) had earlier rowed after she suspected he was the father of another woman’s baby. In evidence at Edinburgh High Court she said that after Smullen and another man left the flat, Miss Beattie, who said she and the others were drunk, left to go to another house and then another where she met Mr Dixon, who was a friend. The pair later returned to her flat.

She said when Smullen later returned to the flat, she and Mr Dixon were in the living room.

She told the court Mr Dixon was in his boxers and the pair had kissed, but nothing sexual had happened. She added: “I think he was in his boxers just to get comfy.”

She said Mr Dixon tried to calm the situation but both men started fighting and she tried to split them up. Miss Beattie, who no longer considers herself to be in a romantic relationship with the accused, said

Smullen stabbed Mr Dixon before leaving. She added:“I remember screaming out‘what have you done, what have you done? I must have said that two or three times.”

She told the court that she and Smullen had been in a relationship and have a child together. She said:“We were on and off. I would say a difficult relationship.”

Smullen (23) has denied assaulting Mr Dixon by striking him on the body with a knife or similar instrument and murdering him at 25 Wallace Court on June 4 in 2019.

Smullen has also denied assaulting Paul Booth at Nimmo Avenue, in Perth, on June 3 in 2019 by challenging him to fight, chasing him, fighting with him, threatening him and repeatedly punching him on the head.

He has lodged special defences of self defence to both of the charges.

Smullen faces a further charge of failing to comply with a bail condition on June 3 and 4 in 2019 that he remain within 25 Wallace Court between 7pm and 7am.

His mother Mary Theressa Smullen (46) is accused of attempting to pervert the course of justice on various occasions on June 4 in 2019 at 25 Wallace Court, 92 Craigie Place and Perth Police station, all in Perth.

It is alleged that knowing her son had stabbed Mr Dixon she pretended to police that the crime had been committed by Shannon Beattie.

The court heard earlier in the week that Mr Dixon was found with a stab wound to the chest after emergency services responded to a 999 call.

He was taken from a house in Perth to Ninewells Hospital, in Dundee, where a scan revealed he had fluid in the sac around his heart.

Blood gathered around the organ was removed but a single stab injury to the heart was identified, the High Court in Edinburgh was told in agreed evidence. But during efforts by surgeons to repair the injury Mr Dixon went into cardiac arrest and he was later pronounced dead.

The court heard that police and paramedics had attended at the property at Wallace Court, in Perth, following an emergency call. Mr Dixon was found lying on a mattress with a visible chest wound.

The trial before Lady Carmichael continues.