Alleged murderer was ‘bragging’ after death

M urder accused Robbie Smullen was “bragging about it” when he learnt that he killed a man, a court has heard.

The 23-year-old is on trial at the High Court in Edinburgh, accused of killing Barry Dixon at a flat in Wallace Court, Perth, in June 2019.

Jurors were told that Smullen turned up at a house in the city “shouting and banging at the door”.

Witness Brian Henderson said he was at the home of a woman in Perth when Smullen arrived.

Mr Henderson said he told the woman not to let him in, but she answered the door. He could see Smullen from the kitchen window.

Smullen said he thought he had killed someone and appeared agitated and stressed out, he said.

Mr Henderson, 48, told the court that the woman, who he was in a relationship with at the time, went with Smullen to the nearby home of his mother.

He said he thought he locked up the woman’s house and also went to the mother’s home.

“I walked in and his mother was battering him, saying ‘What did you do that for?’” he said.

Mr Henderson said they were in the kitchen and Smullen said: “I am glad I killed him.”

He later told police that when he got to the kitchen Smullen was in boxer shorts and trainers, but he did not know where the rest of his clothes had gone.

He said to officers that Smullen’s brother called him an “idiot” and Smullen said he needed to get rid of his clothes.

Others left the house in a car and Mr Henderson said he thought they were going to have a look.

He and his girlfriend were left in the house with Smullen. Mr Henderson said: “He was wanting to escape.

“He was getting really paranoid. He was trying to get out.”

When the others returned, Smullen asked if he was dead and was told he was not moving anyway, Mr Henderson told police.

He said to officers: “When Robbie heard the news he had killed him he wasn’t upset, he was bragging about it.”

Smullen, 23, denies assaulting and murdering Mr Dixon.

It is alleged that he struck him on the body with a knife or similar instrument resulting in Mr Dixon being so severely injured that he died later that day at Ninewells Hospital.

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

Smullen has lodged special defences of self defence to the charges.

He also faces a further charge alleging he failed to comply with a bail condition on June 3 and 4 in 2019 that he remains 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 June 4 in 2019 on various occasions at Wallace Court and other locations in Perth.

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

Miss Beattie, 25, who was in a relationship with Robbie Smullen at the time, was at the flat in Wallace Court with Mr Dixon when he was injured.

She told prosecutor Erin Campbell that as she walked into the living room with Smullen behind her she did not see Mr Dixon holding a knife.

The trial before Lady Carmichael continues.