Police interview with Patrick Pritzwald-Stegmann’s accused killer played in court
THE man accused of killing a heart surgeon in a one-punch attack told police he shouldn’t have struck the father of two and said it was “a blessing” the melee occurred at a hospital, a jury has heard.
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THE man accused of killing a heart surgeon in a one-punch attack told police he thought the doctor would just be a bit “sore on the chin” after the fatal swing, a jury has heard.
As the Supreme Court trial over the death of doctor Patrick Pritzwald-Stegmann neared the end of its third week, the court was played a recording of Joseph Esmaili’s police interview.
Mr Esmaili told detectives he shouldn’t have punched the surgeon but did so “to get him away from me”.
ACCUSED DIDN’T MEAN TO HIT SURGEON ‘THAT HARD’
SURGEON BLED, CONVULSED AFTER FATAL PUNCH
“I don’t like people too close to me,” he said in the interview conducted the day after the attack in May last year.
Mr Esmaili has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter.
The then-22-year-old said he was “glad that (Mr Pritzwald-Stegmann) was still alive”.
“I know it’s bad, but it’s a blessing that it happened where it did (in hospital),” he said.
Mr Pritzwald-Stegmann, 41, died from his injuries in hospital a month later.
Mr Esmaili sat with his head in his hands and rubbed his eyes as the 30-minute video was played to the court.
It comes as the jury heard the respected surgeon had only returned to work two weeks before the incident after suffering concussion in a scooter accident.
The father of two was rushed to hospital after he was knocked unconscious when falling headfirst off a manual scooter at a skate park on April 18 last year.
He sustained fractures in his neck, forearm and wrist and had no recollection of the crash.
He presented at hospital “extremely confused” and suffering post-traumatic amnesia.
ACCUSED TOLD WITNESS ABOUT ANGER ISSUES
But a CAT scan showed no abnormalities, the jury was told.
Doctors told him to take up to six weeks off work to recover, issuing an incapacity to work certificate which expired on June 2.
But he was medically cleared to return to Box Hill Hospital where he was a heart surgeon on May 16, only to be fatally punched on May 30.
The melee was sparked after Dr Pritzwald-Stegmann confronted Mr Esmaili over his smoking in a non-smoking area of the hospital.
The trial, before Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth, continues.