Murder accused was 'fighting for life' in struggle
Cleveland PoliceA man accused of murdering his childhood friend said he was "fighting for his life" in a struggle with the victim.
Mohammed Shaan Ali Rasul, 23, was found dead in a property in Allerton Close, Hartlepool, by emergency services on 23 November last year after neighbours reported a disturbance.
Prosecutors said Callum Howe, 23, of Blakelock Gardens, struck the victim at least 10 times in the face with an axe or hatchet.
Howe denies murder and claims he acted in self-defence after being "scared for his life".
Jurors previously heard Rasul and another man had been staying with Howe in a flat on Allerton Close in the days before the attack, with the trio taking lots of drugs and not sleeping or eating in the lead-up to the incident.
Emergency services were called to the cul-de-sac after Howe jumped out of a window and was seen stumbling around covered in blood and shouting for help.
While assisting Howe, police and paramedics entered the flat and found Rasul on the bedroom floor. He was declared dead a short while later, jurors heard.
Howe told the court he and the deceased had been very good friends since they were six or seven, and had lived together previously at a number of properties.
When asked by his defence barrister Nicholas Lumley KC if he accepted he killed his friend, he replied yes, but not intentionally.
Howe said he did not believe he had left his friend for dead and was "devastated" by what had happened.
The pair had never had any physical confrontations previously, only "daft" arguments, he said.
Rasul had come to stay with his Japanese Akita dog Rocco, of which Howe was wary, describing the pet as "unpredictable".
He said the pair had been taking cocaine and cannabis and he had taken pregabalin a few days earlier.
During the course of the night, Rasul and the other man had "started acting strange" towards each other, staring at each other and having a stand-off, Howe said, and he had tried to calm them down.
He told the court the third man had asked for Rasul's phone to ring his mother but they had then heard a large bang and crash as the man left the property via the kitchen window, taking the phone.
Howe said he went to the bedroom, Rasul became aggressive and tried for force himself into the room, and Howe allowed him in but not the dog.
He said Rasul was angry and tried to grab him away from the door, so he pushed him and Rasul started to punch him in the face and head.
Howe punched back to defend himself, he told the court.
'Drug-fuelled rage'
Howe told the jury Rasul then picked up the hatchet and swung it at him.
"I thought I was going to die," he said.
Rasul then swung the weapon again and the pair ended up in a struggle, with Howe begging his friend not to fight, he said.
"He just wouldn't calm down, it's like he didn't know who I was, I've never known him react like this," he told the court.
The fight over the hatchet continued, with Howe saying he head-butted Rasul multiple times in self defence, eventually retrieving the weapon.
Rasul had not calmed down and Howe said he used the hatchet "a few times".
When asked why, he said he was defending himself, as Rasul would not let go, and he wanted to escape and was scared for his life.
Once Rasul was "dazed" Howe left the bedroom through the window.
Prosecutor Peter Makepeace KC questioned Howe about his recollection of that evening, and whether the dispute had been around drugs, which Howe denied.
Makepeace described Howe as being "in a drug fuelled rage" but Howe responded that someone had attacked him and he was "fighting for my life".
Howe denied repeatedly striking Rasul with an axe.
"I might have headbutted him over and over again, I did not axe him over and over again," he said.
The trial continues.
