The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Murder accused claims he feared alleged victim was going to stab him
Amurder accused told a court he thought his alleged victim was going to stab him before they struggled and fell.
At the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday, Robbie Smullen said he fell on top of Barry Dixon and then realised the other man was bleeding from his chest.
Smullen, 23, has denied murdering Mr Dixon on June 4, 2019, at a flat at 25 Wallace Court, Perth, and lodged a special defence of self-defence.
He said he was let into the flat by his then partner Shannon Beattie and went into the living room while she went to the bathroom.
Smullen said he saw Mr Dixon, from Dundee, whom he knew of but had never spoken to, in boxer shorts with no T-shirt on.
He told his defence counsel Ronnie Renucci QC that he was surprised to see him there and felt upset.
Smullen said he was angry and thought Mr Dixon and his then partner were having sex.
He said: “I told him to get out my house.”
He then said that Mr Dixon laughed and said he had not had sex with his girlfriend.
He told the High Court in Edinburgh that Mr Dixon walked towards him and threw a punch. He said he threw a punch back “protecting myself ” and he became aware of a knife in Mr Dixon’s hand and he grabbed his arm.
Mr Renucci asked Smullen what he thought he was going to do and he replied: “Stab me.”
He said he was trying to get the knife out of his hand and they had a struggle, tripped and fell.
Smullen said they fell onto a mattress in the living room and added: “I fell on top of him.”
He said he realised that Mr Dixon had been stabbed when he got up and that he was bleeding from his chest.
Smullen said he realised that Mr Dixon was badly injured but told the court he was terrified and panicked and ran “to go and get help”.
Mr Renucci asked why he had not called for an ambulance and he replied he panicked.
He said he then went to his mother’s house.
Smullen denied that he had been bragging about killing him when he found out he was dead.
Smullen said he did not know that Miss Beattie knew Mr Dixon or that they had been texting each other.
He said he thought that when he arrived at the flat at nearly 2am that Miss Beattie would be present but did not expect anyone else to be there.
Smullen said there had earlier been arguments between him and Miss Beattie because she was suggesting he was the father of another woman’s child.
Prosecutor Erin Campbell put it to Smullen that Mr Dixon did not have a knife, but he disputed that.
He denied he had taken the knife with him.
Smullen is accused of assaulting Mr Dixon and striking him on the body with a knife or similar instrument resulting in him being so severely injured that he died later on June 4 in 2019 at Dundee’s Ninewells Hospital.
Yesterday, his mother Mary Theressa Smullen, 46, of Carnegie Place, Perth, admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice.
On various occasions on June 4, 2019, at locations in Perth she pretended to police that Miss Beattie had committed the crime.
The judge, Lady Carmichael, deferred her case until tomorrow. The trial against her son on the murder charge continues.