The alleged victim of a one-punch killing in Aberdeen was struck by the accused and fell and hit his head, according to neighbours who witnessed the incident.
Derek Pearson is on trial at the High Court in Aberdeen accused of causing the death of Steven Johnson, 50, by chasing him down and attacking him on the city’s Carmelite Street.
Pearson, 47, was drinking in The Scottish Embassy bar alongside his former partner Kathleen Cunningham on the evening of March 12 2023.
He is alleged to have flown into a jealous rage and run at Mr Johnson, pinned him against a wall of the lane and to have struggled with him.
It is claimed that, during the struggle, Pearson repeatedly punched Mr Johnson to the head, causing him to fall to the ground whereby he became unconscious and died.
Accused also faces charges related to woman
Pearson faces further accusations that he assaulted Ms Cunningham that same evening.
He is accused of placing her in a headlock, punching her to the head, pushing her against a car, kicking her and pushing her to the ground where he straddled her and held her arms.
Pearson also faces one charge of assault relating to Ms Cunningham, 34, by allegedly pushing her that night.
Other charges allege Pearson carried out a course of conduct that was abusive to Ms Cunningham by kicking her out of a moving car to the danger to her life at Berryden Road, Aberdeen.
The same charge accuses him of chocking Ms Cunningham to her in jury and to the danger to her life.
These incidents are alleged to have occurred between February 2020 and March 2023.
Pearson denies all the charges against him and has lodged a special defence of self defence.
Students watched incident from window
Witness Chloe Letham – who lived on Carmelite Street at the time of the incident – told the court she watched the altercation between Pearson and the deceased occur on Carmelite Lane from her living-room window.
Ms Letham, a 22-year-old medical student, said Mr Johnston seemed to be trying to “diffuse” the situation when he was struck by Pearson without warning, causing him to fall and strike a car before hitting the ground.
“All I can remember is that the shorter man (Pearson) hit him across the face.
“And he fell back and hit against a car and hit his head on the pavement,” Ms Letham said.
Her account was backed up by her then-flatmate, Theano Georgiadi, also 22, who gave a similar account of seeing Pearson and Mr Johnson in the lane.
Ms Georgiadi said she saw Mr Johnson try to separate Pearson and Ms Cunningham and was “trying to calm the situation down”.
Asked by advocate depute Margaret Barron what happened next, Ms Georgiadi said: “The next thing I can remember is the tall guy (Steven Johnson) is trying to get the shorter guy (Pearson) away from the scene and they move over to the cobbles.
“The shorter guy (Pearson) then turns around then turns right back around and punched him.”
“What happened to the tall guy?” the advocate depute asked.
“He hit the side of a car and then just completely fell onto the cobbles,” Ms Georgiadi replied.
Accused ‘seemed panicked’ student claims
Pearson’s defence advocate, David Moggach KC, quizzed Ms Georgiadi, a law student, about the incident she witnessed.
“Was it just one punch?” he asked.
“Yes,” she replied.
He asked Ms Georgiadi – who recorded the aftermath of the incident on her phone – how Pearson behaved afterwards.
“He seemed quite on edge, he seemed quite panicked,” she replied.
John Nwokeji, who also lived on Carmelite Street at the time, heard the incident and went to his window.
Mr Nwokeji said he saw two men and a woman within Carmelite Lane.
He told the court he had seen Pearson punch Steven Johnson “about three times” before he used his elbow to push him against the wall.
However, Mr Nwokeji was unable to say how Mr Johnson ended up on the pavement as the incident woke Mr Nwokeji’s infant child and he left the room.
The trial, before Judge Graham Buchanan, continues.
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