A MAN was hurled from a 14th-floor tower block window after being
stabbed nine times in the stomach, a murder trial at the High Court in
Edinburgh heard yesterday.
The body of Mr John Sutherland, 48, dressed only in underpants, shirt,
and jersey, was found with ''catastrophic injuries'' after a 122ft fall
from the window
in Peffermill Court, Edinburgh.
Detective Constable James Calder, of Lothian and Borders CID, told the
court that he had visited a flat on the 14th floor of the building after
the body was discovered early on January 6.
Mr Calder said that, on entering the flat of murder accused Meldrum
Hazell, 33, he saw bank notes covered in blood drying on a radiator in
the hallway and then found bloodstains in a bedroom.
He said Mr Hazell was lying on a couch in the living room. When asked
what had happened in the flat, the accused said: ''I gave John a vodka
and he tried to stab me.''
Mr Calder told the court that, at that point, Mr Hazell had made a
further statement under caution.
He is alleged to have said: ''I stabbed him in the stomach nine times.
I am sorry -- I opened the window and threw him out.''
Police Sergeant Trefor Jones told the trial that when Mr Hazell was
detained and taken to Craigmillar police station, he said under caution
when asked about Mr Sutherland's death: ''I did that. I never murdered
anyone before.''
Mr Jones said that in his 18 years in the police force he had never
dealt with a death as ''traumatic'' as that of Mr Sutherland.
Later, Detective Constable Michael Watt told the court that during an
interview in a police station, Hazell had described how he had plunged a
knife into Mr Sutherland nine times.
Mr Hazell denies murdering Mr Sutherland, of Harewood Drive,
Edinburgh, by repeatedly stabbing him with a knife and pushing him out
of the 14th-floor window.
He has lodged a plea of self-defence.
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