A man fled to his bathroom to evade masked raiders – only for them to hack at the door with an axe and drag him out, a jury has been told.
Allan Roy was at his north-east bungalow when it is alleged men ran in through the door and began raining blows down on his body.
He told police he thought he would die, adding: “It probably lasted five minutes but it felt like a lifetime. It was the most frightening experience of my life.”
A jury at the High Court in Aberdeen yesterday heard the account the 42-year-old gave to police a week after the alleged incident on November 21 last year.
Mr Roy said he was in his kitchen on Clinton Drive, Sandhaven, with friend Selina King at around 9pm when the men arrived.
His statement read: “I saw three men running into the kitchen. Selina said ‘oh my God’ and I saw her run out of the property. The males had their faces hidden and hoods up and had scarves across their faces.
“One had an axe, one had a knife. The third male had a weapon, but I didn’t see what it was.
“All three began to strike me on the head and body. The first male struck me with the axe. This was a really hard blow. I could hear my lung making a gurgling sound. I thought I was going to die.
“The first male threatened to chop my legs off if I didn’t give him money. There was a bit of heroin and crack cocaine on the table and they saw it and asked for more drugs.
“I got up and ran to the bathroom and locked the door. I began shouting as though I was on the phone to the police. They struck the bathroom door with the axe, got in and dragged me back to the living room.”
Mr Roy told police the men fled and he heard a vehicle accelerating off.
The court heard Mr Roy suffered a punctured lung, six fractured ribs and multiple lacerations to his body and face.
Brandon Douglas, 18, Martin Gemmell, 28, and Brandon Wilson, 22, have been charged – with another unnamed person – with going to the house of Mr Roy on Clinton Drive, Sandhaven, on November 21 last year uninvited, brandishing an axe and knives.
They are also accused of demanding Mr Roy give them drugs and money and uttering threats of violence towards him.
It is alleged the three men repeatedly struck a bathroom door with the axe and dragged Mr Roy from the bathroom and that they struck him on the head and body with the axe and knives, all to his severe injury, permanent disfigurement and to the danger of his life, and in doing so, attempted to murder him.
All three men deny the charges.
The trial is to continue on Monday.
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