Trainer soles pattern on victim’s face

the man accused of murdering Wishaw man Kevin Holmes last thursday pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of culpable homicide.

george McDonald admitted that he had killed Kevin – known as Keek – by kicking, punching and stamping on his head in a lane off Main street on March 22 last year.

the change of plea came on the fourth day of 45-year-old McDonald’s trial for murder at the High Court in livingston, just before the prosecution was due to close its case.

His not guilty plea to assaulting Brian Watson, the man he had tried to blame for the murder, was accepted by the Crown.

advocate depute Bill McVicar revealed that McDonald had a list of previous convictions, including assaults to severe injury and permanent disfigurement, for which he had served prison sentences.

Judge lord Woolman called for an up to date criminal justice social work report and told McDonald he would be sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh on March 14.

During the trial, McDonald was heard telling detectives that he had got Kevin’s blood on his shoes and clothing when he stepped over him as he passed through the lane.

But CCtV evidence showed that he had not walked into the lane from Main street as he claimed, and he was stopped by police leaving the back of the lane minutes after Kevin was attacked.

a forensic expert said the pattern on the soles of McDonald’s adidas trainers matched a bruise mark on Kevin’s face.

the jury heard from the final prosecution witness last week that Kevin’s heart stopped for 45 minutes as he was being rushed to hospital after he choked on his own vomit following the attack.

Dr Marjorie turner, 54, a consultant forensic pathologist at the university of glasgow, said the blunt force trauma to Kevin’s head started a chain of events which led to Kevin, 47, suffering irreparable brain damage.

she told the jury:“It only takes a small number of minutes of cardiac arrest for the brain to be starved of oxygen and irreparably damaged.

“If that happens the brain can be so badly damaged that the individual won’t survive.”

she told how medics at Wishaw general Hospital’s accident and emergency unit managed to restart Kevin’s heart and restore the blood flow to his brain.

He was kept alive on a ventilator for three days but eventually lost the battle to live after he developed pneumonia.

she listed a total of 19 injuries she found on Kevin’s body when she carried out a post mortem examination.