A Belfast man who is accused of the manslaughter of a Dublin-based tennis player, Gareth Parker, yesterday pleaded guilty to assaulting him. However, Andre Shoukri (20), from Westland Way, who admitted common assault, still denies the unlawful killing of Mr Parker as well as another charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Giving evidence in Belfast Crown Court, Mr Shoukri said that he might have been a "bit fast" in throwing a punch which felled Mr Parker (23) moments before a car ran over him outside the Shaftesbury Inn on Belfast's Antrim Road in June last year.
Mr Shoukri said that Mr Parker might not have heard his warning about getting involved in a fight. When Mr Parker kept coming towards him, he thought he was going to punch him or intervene in the fighting. Moments later, when he saw a car run over Mr Parker's head, he panicked.
Later, under cross-examination, Mr Shoukri denied hitting Mr Parker as hard as he could or that he panicked because he realised it was through his actions that Mr Parker had been run over.
Mr Shoukri, whose trial is expected to end today, maintained that he never thought about passing traffic.
Earlier Mr Shoukri said that he had gone to the Shaftesbury Inn with a friend whom he later saw leave, walking between two men he did not know. He admitted that he thought there was going to be a fight, and when he went outside he saw his friend wrestling with another man.
As he walked towards the fight, he turned to confront a man - Mr Parker - who was walking towards him. "I told him to take himself off, or words to that effect, but he kept coming. I threw a punch at him with my right hand, but missed, and then I hit him with my left hand. It wasn't really a hard blow, because I'm right-handed."
Mr Shoukri added: "In my mind, he either was coming over to punch me, or help his friend, who was fighting."