One of the men accused of murdering Scott Wilkinson near Sunbury Lock in 2016 claimed the 48-year-old had brandished a knife at him during an argument over drugs.
Shane Crawt, 19, of Old Lodge Lane, Purley, told a jury at Guildford Crown Court on Thursday (February 28) that he had bought cannabis from Mr Wilkinson "on tick" the day before the fisherman was beaten over the head with a blunt object and left for dead on an island in the Thames.
He had been camping on the island, known as Donkey Island, during a fishing trip, as had Crawt and his co-defendants, brother Lenny Crawt, 18, of Down Street, West Molesey, and their cousin Charlie Smith, 24, of no fixed abode. All three men deny murder.
Giving evidence in his own defence, Crawt claimed Mr Wilkinson had approached them the next night, July 27 2016, and had been "moody" and demanded payment. When Crawt told him he would pay the next day, he said, Mr Wilkinson returned to his tent with the defendant following him.
Scott Wilkinson murder trial
Mr Wilkinson then became angry, the defendant said, pushing him to the ground.
"I was scared," he told the jury, "So I got up and punched him. Then after I punched him, he punched me back and I pushed him. He stumbled back and picked something up. I saw once he started waving it around it was a knife.
"I stepped back to get out the way and then out of nowhere Charlie [Smith] came. Then Charlie hit Scott in the arm with something and hit him again."
Crawt said Mr Smith then continued to hit Mr Wilkinson with the object while Crawt himself went to tell his brother they needed to leave the island.
On a previous day of the trial, Smith told the jury it had been the Crawt brothers who attacked and beat Mr Wilkinson to death while he had merely been a witness.
'I don't give a s*** about Charlie'
In cross-examination, Smith's barrister Graham Trembath QC suggested Crawt was trying to "row out" his brother by claiming he had not been present during the attack on Mr Wilkinson.
"In other words," he said, "You know full well Lenny was involved with you in the attack on Scott Wilkinson, but you are going to try to lie to keep Lenny out of it."
Mr Trembath pointed to transcripts of a phone call Crawt made to his mother while in custody, during which he said: "I don't give a s*** about Charlie, it's Lenny I'm worried about.
"I'll do my best to get Lenny out, mum, don't worry about that. I don't care as long as he gets out."
Crawt denied lying about where his brother was during the attack.
'Why didn't you help him?'
Paul Cavin QC, prosecuting, asked Crawt why he had left the area once, as he said, Smith had attacked Mr Wilkinson.
"Your cousin and Scott Wilkinson were in the midst of a battle with knives and an object," he said, "And poor old Charlie might have been stabbed.
"Why didn't you help him?"
"I assumed he was going to follow," Crawt said.
Mr Cavin said: "What, with Scott Wilkinson at his back with a massive knife? Is this really how it happened?"
Crawt said it was.
Mr Cavin also asked why Crawt had not gone back to call an ambulance or check on Mr Wilkinson's condition when, as Crawt claimed, Mr Smith told him he had killed the fisherman.
"I thought he was telling lies," said Mr Crawt, "I thought he was just being a drama queen."
The trial continues.
