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Airdrie homicide suspect Michael Anthony Roebuck admitted Thursday to capturing his neighbour within the chest and again, however didn’t intend to kill him.

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And Roebuck advised defence lawyer Shelley Moore he feared Daniel MacDonald was going to burn his home down over an ongoing dispute.

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Roebuck mentioned for months MacDonald had been stalking him, one thing that got here to a head at a fuel bar close to their properties on Sept. 7, 2019.

“I used to be simply terrified,” Roebuck testified, of the incident wherein he and MacDonald ended up in fisticuffs at a Circle Ok retailer not removed from their residences on Canoe Cl. in Airdrie.

Roebuck is charged with first-degree homicide within the capturing of MacDonald, who was killed within the driveway of his dwelling.

Roebuck provided a distinct model of the continuing dispute he had with MacDonald, as soon as a very good pal and enterprise associate.

He mentioned MacDonald started stalking him, he believed with others, after he accused the deceased of stealing 35 kilos of marijuana from his basement.

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Late that afternoon whereas pumping fuel into his roommate’s Porsche, Roebuck mentioned MacDonald pulled into the realm and glared at him for a number of minutes earlier than pulling as much as one other pump.

At the moment MacDonald began yelling at him and difficult him to a struggle, the accused mentioned.

“He mentioned ‘you attempt to drive out of right here I’ll tear your (expletive) head off’ and I got here round and confronted him, as a result of guys like that you simply face them or they observe you down.”

Roebuck mentioned issues had been worsened by the very fact he believed he was drugged that afternoon by a girl he met on-line and went to Crimson Deer to satisfy and have a picnic with.

At one level throughout the struggle MacDonald knocked him to the bottom and stood over him.

“He mentioned … ‘I’m going to burn you out’,” he advised Moore.

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“I took it to imply he was going to burn me in my home,” Roebuck mentioned.

“He was simply nuts, indignant, frothing.”

The accused feared MacDonald would firebomb his dwelling whereas he, his grandson and finest pal had been inside.

When he acquired dwelling Roebuck grabbed his shotgun and loaded it, earlier than heading to MacDonald’s close by residence.

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“I didn’t go over to kill him. I needed to scare him and make him again off.”

However as a substitute of creating MacDonald fearful, the weapon, pointed at his chest, angered him additional and his neighbour lunged at him, Roebuck mentioned.

“He yanks on it and the primary shot went off,” he mentioned.

However Roebuck mentioned he didn’t know MacDonald had been struck.

“He’s not appearing like he’s shot,” the accused mentioned.

“I didn’t need this to occur. It is a nightmare.

“He’s leaning again towards his truck … he says ‘I’m going to kill you, I’m going to (expletive) kill you’,” Roebuck mentioned.

MacDonald moved to the again of his pickup and tripped, or fell to the bottom earlier than trying to stand up to face him, the accused mentioned.

“I’m trembling, shaking, I’m not Soiled Harry, I don’t have good management and I fired and the spherical hit him … and he stayed down.”

Crown prosecutor Joe Mercier, who commenced his questioning Thursday, will resume his cross-examination Friday.

KMartin@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @KMartinCourts