A security guard accused of killing a man outside a Birmingham cocktail bar told police he 'panicked' and delivered a 'pre-emptive strike' because he felt threatened, a court has heard.
Single punch proved fatal
CCTV footage captured Richard Deakin, 38, from Halesowen, punching Joshua Johnson-Hector, 31, once outside Savanna on Bristol Street in the early hours of December 28 last year. The victim fell to the ground and died in hospital the following day.
Deakin is standing trial at Birmingham Crown Court, denying a charge of manslaughter. On Thursday, July 9, his police interview was read to the jury.
Deakin began by saying: 'Obviously I'm extremely sorry for any involvement, the result of that obviously.'
'Bad energy' between them
He claimed he had 'definitely not meant to cause that level of impact' and said: 'I truly believe it was, I was defending myself with a pre-emptive strike. There was previously bad energy between me and Joshua. Nothing to the extreme of what's happened. He's a big guy. There was cross words previously with him. Turning up after hours with him turning up like that I felt scared.'
Deakin stated he immediately went to check on Mr Johnson-Hector and put him in the recovery position before leaving him in the care of first aiders. He confirmed Mr Johnson-Hector had not thrown any punches himself, but said he stood squarely in front of him near the entrance of the bar.
'I panicked'
Deakin continued: 'I felt he was in the way. There was "wagwan Tommy". I panicked. I panicked. I felt threatened. I hit him because I felt threatened. I felt it was going to go that way anyway. I hit him once. As soon as I hit him I realised that was hard enough to knock him out. I didn't intend to knock him out.'
Deakin claimed in interview that before he left the scene, Mr Johnson-Hector had 'come back around' and was responding to people.
Wireless Festival incident
He elaborated that their previous 'cross words' went back to an incident at Wireless Festival earlier that year. Deakin stated he had a security team at the event which Mr Johnson-Hector was 'invited on'. But he told officers he blocked Mr Johnson-Hector's attempt to 'sneak somebody in' to the festival.
Deakin said there had been 'tension' between them since and he had heard words to the effect of 'watch your back'. He added: 'From that point on it was "you know Joshua is not happy with you". I don't know him too well. A few things were said over the months. I'm not really around that. I walk my dog and stuff. I'm not in Birmingham.'
Boxing background
Deakin confirmed he had been a boxer around ten years earlier. He said on the night of December 28 he had a cup of tea and three single drinks of Hennessy (cognac).
Deakin stated he was unaware of the 'high level' of force behind his punch. He said: 'I was expecting to be catching punches not to knock him out. Try just to hit him and make a space and possibly dart. My car was there. I didn't mean to knock him out. I didn't even mean to come close to knocking him out.'
Asked later in the interview why he decided to punch the victim, Deakin replied: 'It was a knee-jerk panicked reaction. Hindsight is great. At the time, boom, there was a quick shot. I was expecting kind of a fight to happen. I wasn't looking to do some mad finishing shot it was a quick shot. Maybe just back him up. I wasn't look to have a tear-up.'
The trial continues.
