A registered nurse has recalled the moment he rushed to the aid of a man who died in the car park of a Wagga pub.
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David Annetts, a then nurse-in-training who was working at the Ashmont Inn, was called on to give evidence in the trial of brothers Malcolm and Warren Mathers on Wednesday.
The Mathers brothers are currently facing Wagga’s District Court over an alleged December 2016 incident at the Ashmont Inn that resulted in the death of Terry Wickey.
Mr Annetts said he was working at the bottle shop connected to the pub when he heard an altercation in the car park followed by the voice of a man he believed to be Warren Mathers.
“I think it was something along the lines of ‘that’s right, you better stay down’,” Mr Annetts said.
“I came out and saw the deceased on the ground.”
Mr Annetts, who had completed his training in CPR through his nursing studies, then described checking Terry Wickey’s wrist, elbow, and neck for a pulse.
“He was unconscious and unresponsive,” Mr Annetts told the court.
When asked by Warren Mathers’ defence lawyer how he knew it was Warren he heard yelling, the witness replied “he just has a distinctive voice, and he was a local customer through the bottle shop”.
Later on Wednesday, a series of videos showing Malcolm Mathers giving evidence at Wagga’s police station on a number of separate occasions were played to the court.
In one video, Malcolm said he recalled fighting with Terry’s cousin, Leon Wickey, but he had no recollection of what happened to Terry.
“One of the lads walked out of the pub, I think it was Leon – I didn’t know him, but he asked if I had a smoke, so I walked over to give him a smoke and we started taking,” Malcolm was heard saying.
In the video, Malcolm then said the casual interaction quickly turned violent when Leon allegedly accused Warren of grabbing his genitals.
“Me and Leon, we was full on going at it, so if anyone got in between us they could have caught a punch, there was punches flying everywhere with us,” he said.
In another video, Malcolm said he decided to go to the police station a few hours after the incident when Warren’s de facto partner told him someone had passed away at the Ashmont Inn.
He told the police officers he expected the deceased person to be Leon, and was shocked when he found out it was in fact Terry.
“I recall punching someone, I know me and Leon was fighting, but it just went real quick,” Malcolm said.
More witnesses are due to give evidence in the Mathers brothers’ trial on Thursday.