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Murder Trial: Son witnessed attack on FaceTime

Wed, 18 Mar 2015

The son of a Castletown man accused of murder has told a court how he witnessed his father being attacked during a FaceTime call shortly before a man from Ballabeg died.

Yesterday jurors at Douglas Courthouse heard evidence from 26-year-old Robert Anderson in the trial against his father Ian Anderson.

The 46-year-old is accused of murdering 60-year-old Neil Roberts in 2013 - his body was found at his home on Queen Street in the early hours of December 1st.

The jury was given a chronology of calls made between the father and son - in one just before midnight on November 30th Robert Anderson described his dad as being "down in the dumps".

He said his father told him his mother had said "she loved Neil" and was leaving him and that he knew he had to "let her go".

In a subsequent call, minutes later, Robert Anderson said his mother refused to speak to him and he realised Mr Robert's was in the property saying he could hear "shouting and swearing".

He told the court he repeatedly heard his father asking the gardener to leave - describing then, how all of a sudden, the camera on his father's device "went everywhere".

Robert Anderson told the court he could hear a "thud" and Anderson shouting "they're both hitting me" - when his father refocused the camera on his face he described it as "unrecognisable".

The Facetime connection was then lost. 

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