Marine boasted about being ‘trained killer’ before bouncer allegedly knocked him out, court hears

A US Marine boasted about being a ‘trained killer’ in the minutes before he was allegedly knocked unconscious by a Darwin bouncer last year, a court has heard.

A US Marine boasted about being a “trained killer” in the minutes before he was allegedly knocked unconscious by a Darwin bouncer last year, a court has heard.

Hayden Robert Bruce Summers has pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court to unlawfully causing serious harm to Glen Thomason outside Monsoons nightclub in the early hours of April 11.

On Tuesday, venue manager Matthew Hutcheon told jurors in Summers’ trial he had told police on the night that “Hayden slapped the shit out of him” following “multiple threats of physical harm”.

In an incident report annexed to Mr Hutcheon’s police statement, the court heard he also noted Thomason was “threatening his military training and ability to kill”.

“I believe he uttered that he could kill and that he was a trained killer,” he told Crown prosecutor Ian Rowbottom.

“So he wasn’t actually saying ‘I’m going to kill you’, was he?” Mr Rowbottom asked.

“Again, the situation went for multiple minutes, there were multiple threats of physical violence,” he replied.

But Mr Hutcheon agreed he had not heard Mr Thomason make a threat “immediately before” he was struck by Summers.

“I’m not sure what he said but there was an exclamation, like a yell, I don’t recall what was said but it was a loud exclamation,” he said.

Hayden Summers outside court. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

Earlier, Summers’ barrister, Peter Maley, told the jury the “fundamental issue” in the trial would be whether his client was acting in self-defence when he “slapped” the Marine.

“You’re really in the box seat to see what happened, there’s clear video footage, no audio but clear video footage, of the incident and you can look at it for yourselves,” he said.

“You may have done something differently, that’s neither here nor there, it’s whether the Crown can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was not acting in self-defence.”

The court also heard Mr Thomason fell to the ground after being slapped and his head struck the road and he would likely have died if he was not rushed to Royal Darwin Hospital for lifesaving surgery.

He spent 19 days in RDH and “has subsequently required considerable therapy and rehabilitation”.

The trial continues on Wednesday.

Originally published as Marine boasted about being ‘trained killer’ before bouncer allegedly knocked him out, court hears