Murder accused told partner of death push

By Cortlan Bennett, NZ Newswire Updated June 13, 2012, 7:10 pm

A Perth man accused of murder called his girlfriend two hours after pushing a New Zealander through a second-floor pub window to tell her "something bad has happened - I'll call you tomorrow".

The 29-year-old NSW woman, whose name was suppressed, told the West Australian Supreme Court via video link on Wednesday it wasn't until the next day that her boyfriend - accused man Stefan Pahia Schmidt, 25 - phoned back to say what had happened.

"He'd pushed a man through a window at the Ocean Beach Hotel and someone had died," the woman, who broke down crying, testified.

The victim was Andrew Marshall, 29, who died shortly after being pushed through the second-storey window of the Cottesloe pub on the night of May 8, 2011.

Mr Marshall is a cousin of slain Manawatu farmer Scott Guy. The trial of Mr Guy's brother-in-law Ewen Macdonald for murder is continuing in the Wellington High Court.

Schmidt - who the court has heard weighs 152kg - does not deny pushing Mr Marshall, but his defence has described the death as a "dreadful accident".

The girlfriend testified that prior to the incident, Schmidt had sent her a text message saying he was "with the brothers and the famz", though she did not know the people he was referring to.

She said the next day Schmidt had blamed his "brother" for "winding him up" prior to pushing Mr Marshall, who had been chatting with two young women at the hotel.

Schmidt had told his girlfriend the women were "his sister" and "brother's girlfriend" - though none were related to him by blood.

In earlier testimony, hotel security guard Mark Sylva said seeing Schmidt push Mr Marshall out the window "was like something out of The Matrix movie".

"I remember him being pushed and falling through the broken window," Mr Sylva said, describing how Mr Marshall had tried to regain his balance before disappearing out of sight.

Another witness who appeared via video link from NSW, Dean Banning, described how a "large man" had grabbed Mr Marshall by the front of his shirt and pushed him towards the window.

"It was a pretty big push - if there wasn't anything behind him, he would have definitely fallen," Mr Banning said.

The witness described Schmidt as "angry-looking", saying after he pushed Mr Marshall out the window, he had punched and pushed another man to the floor as he tried to leave the scene.

The court was again shown security video of Mr Marshall falling out of the window onto the pavement below.

The trial continues before Judge Ralph Simmonds.

Opinion

  • James Robins

    May 15, 2:33 pm
    AP, DOJ, GCSB

    I've joined Twitter. Follow me here: @James_ARobins“Freedom of the Press, if it means anything at all, means the freedom to criticize and oppose” – G...

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