Kevin Robert Fulton, 46, is on trial in the High Court at Invercargill on a charge of manslaughter.
After a fight at the Newfield Tavern on January 28, 2023, Fulton pushed Douglas Watson on to the concrete, causing a brain bleed which ultimately led to his death.
"He was getting. . . right up in my face," Fulton said. "He sort of leaned into me and I pushed him away."
The defendant said he did not expect Mr Watson to fall.
"It was a shock to me, he just went straight down. . . it wasn’t that hard [of] a push," he said.
"I heard the crack of his skull which was horrifying to say the least. I thought I was gonna be sick. I just went into shock."
Fulton said Mr Watson was being belligerent, while he remained calm.
"I wasn’t fired right up, I was being defensive, firm," he said.
While the defendant conceded he could have walked home, waited for another bus or gone back into the tavern, he did not as he was determined to keep Mr Watson outside until the managers resolved the issue.
"I didn’t know what he was gonna do when he got into the coach," he said.
"He could’ve fired up."
Fulton said he was a former coach driver at the Newfield Tavern and he knew it was irritating when patrons brought bottles on board.
Yesterday, a pathologist said the blunt trauma to Mr Watson’s head was the cause of his death.
She could not complete a post-mortem because the deceased’s body was cremated before the death was referred to the coroner.
The pathologist based her findings on head scans, blood samples and medical records.
She noted a postmortem would not change her finding about the cause of death.
The witness said Mr Watson suffered a fracture to his skull and his brain was bleeding and bruised.
A blood sample revealed the victim had a blood-alcohol level of 166mg — three times the legal drink-driving limit.
The court heard Mr Watson had a heart attack in 2005, suffered from chronic depression and was an alcoholic.
The witness said that after the incident on January 28, 2023, Mr Watson was given anti-nausea medication twice in error.
This caused his blood pressure to rise above the advised level.
A head scan showed his brain was swelling and the bleeding was worse.
Mr Watson’s condition continued to deteriorate and he died on February 1, 2023.
Police officers who first arrived at the scene gave evidence that Fulton was co-operative and remorseful.
"Fulton was very apologetic and quite concerned about the victim," one officer said.
"He continued to emphasise that it was only a small shove."
Justice Jonathan Eaton is expected to sum up the case today.
