Callum Davidson told his uncle “he’s left him for dead” in a phone call hours after borrowing a baseball bat from him on the night before Steven Donaldson’s body was found, a trial has been told.
The claim was made yesterday on the fourth day of the murder trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Davidson and co-accused Steven Dickie and Tasmin Glass, all from Kirriemuir, are accused of murdering Mr Donaldson, who worked offshore.
Michael Davidson told police his nephew said he had “punched the guy a couple of times and been scratched on the nose by the boy”.
Mr Davidson was interviewed by Detective Constable David Budd, the CCTV co-ordinator in the Donaldson inquiry. The court heard Mr Davidson gave an initial statement to police on June 11 in which he said his nephew had not been at his house on the night of June 6.
Police reinterviewed 30-year-old Mr Davidson at his work in Forfar on June 27 and he made the baseball bat admission.
He told DC Budd the accused had come to his house after 9pm on June 6, adding:
“When Callum first came in I would say he was a bit agitated.
“The bother with the guy was because Tasmin was due him money. Callum said he was a loan shark, but he didn’t say what the money was for.
“Callum asked me if he could take a baseball bat that was lying at my bedroom door.
“I agreed that Callum could take the baseball bat and presumed it was linked to this guy Steven Donaldson coming through to sort Tasmin out.”
He then told the detective about a phone call he received just after 1am from his nephew.
“I remember Callum saying something like ‘he’s left him for dead’ when I asked him what the craic was,” his statement continued.
Cross-examined by Davidson’s defence advocate Jonathan Crowe about whether Callum was speaking about himself or someone else when he said “He’s left him for dead”, the witness replied: “From what you’ve just read, someone else.”
The trial continues.