A man accused of stabbing a man to death in Peterhead has told a murder trial that he was protecting his younger brother and puppies during the incident.
Andrew Ross suffered multiple stab wounds, including one to the heart, during the incident outside a flat on Ives Road in the town.
The court previously heard Mr Ross, 52, had gone to the address in February 2023 to steal drugs from the occupant, Luke Allan.
Allan, 28, and his brother Ethan Carlyle, 23, are on trial for Mr Ross’s murder and both deny the charge.
Taking to the stand, Allan told the court that on the night of February 5, his younger brother had come round to play video games with him.
He told the court one source of income was “breeding dogs” and said he had five pocket bully puppies and each was worth between £4,000 to £6,000.
Allan’s defence counsel Brian McConnachie KC asked if he also had an “involvement” with drugs, to which he replied: “Yes, I sold cannabis and M-Cat, mainly to friends and their associates.”
The jury heard that Allan had been a victim of a robbery a month earlier at the hands of “Scousers” and they had stolen £20,000 worth of cash and drugs.
Describing the events of the night of February 5, however, Allan said Mr Ross and his associate Barry Middleton had “forced” their way into his flat “escorting” him upstairs to the kitchen.
“Barry grabbed me by the throat,” Allan said. “He closed the front door and locked it. Andy then said, ‘give me the weed, give me the money, give me everything.”
Robbery turns violent
Allan said he just wanted the men to leave so he agreed to give them what they requested.
“Andy just kept hitting me with the crowbar,” Allan continued. “And then he started to go towards Ethan.
“I jumped between them and told him ‘Don’t touch my brother’. Then Barry came through and started upper-cutting me while Andy brought the crowbar down on my head.”
Allan went on to say Mr Middleton tried to pick up one of the puppies and threatened to “take them all” but didn’t.
Allan said: “They came for me again and there was a tussle in the kitchen.
‘I just started stabbing him’
“I grabbed a knife and told them to leave. I just couldn’t take being hit with the crowbar anymore.
“I just started stabbing him. Everything was hazy – I just remember bits and bobs.”
Telling the court that he recalled “blacking out” and chasing Mr Ross and Mr Middleton out of the flat, he said he “lost it again” outside and continued “punching, kicking and stabbing” Mr Ross as he lay on the ground.
Allan broke down and cried as Mr McConnachie asked how he felt about the incident now.
He replied: “Horrible. I have taken someone’s life. It has messed up my head as well.”
Under cross-examination, advocate depute Lindsey Dalziel asked Allan if being robbed of his drugs was just an “occupational hazard”,
He answered: “Not really.”
She suggested to Allan that he ran a “big operation” and had a reputation to protect.
Allan responded: “That was not going through my mind. I was protecting my brother and my puppies.”
Weapons in house
Ms Dalziel said Allan had weapons “secreted all over the house” and suggested he was exaggerating the night’s events.
He answered: “I think my injuries show I did not exaggerate nothing.”
Ms Dalziel then queried those injuries adding “there’s barely a mark on you”.
She continued: “The doctor could not see anything, if someone had really hit you on the head with a crowbar there would be something to see.”
Allan replied: “It was hard enough for a lump, but not hard enough to split the skin.”
The court heard part of telephone call transcripts between Allan and one of his friends recorded while he was on remand.
In one Allan says: “I just wish I never chased him outside bro, eh?”
The male on the other end of the call at one point says: “Well, it don’t matter now – he’s f****** gone – one less f****r. When you come out of there you can guarantee nothing will happen to you.”
Allan then says: “Oh aye, f****** nobody is going to come near me now.”
Ms Dalziel asked Allan why, if he had just wanted Mr Ross and Mr Middleton to leave, he hadn’t just shut the front door behind them on their way out.
He replied: “I wish I did. I had lost my mind.”
‘They basically tortured us’
Allan was also asked if he had gone to help Mr Ross as he was lying in the road collapsed, he said: “I got the puppies back in the house and then I went back to check if he was still alive.”
“Did you do anything to assist him,” Ms Dalziel asked.
Flustered, Allan replied: “I don’t know what you are expecting me to do. He just fell in the street, I don’t know.”
Mr McConnachie then re-examined Allan and read out a telephone call between his mother and brother, also recorded whilst he was on remand a month after Mr Ross’ death.
In it, his brother Ethan Carlyle says: “It was not meant to go like that. We gave them option after option. They basically tortured us. Them hitting us with the crowbar was attempted murder.”
Carlyle chose not to give evidence.
Andrew Ross was found lying on Ives Road with 18 stab wounds on his body and the court heard no medical intervention would have saved him.
The trial, being heard by Judge Graeme Buchanan, continues.
