The suspect accused of beating to death a British male model after a Halloween party was wearing a clown costume during the savage attack — and had been at a bottomless brunch with his Harley Quinn-dressed lover, his trial was told.
Bhekisani Matabiswana, 26, is accused of attacking 36-year-old model, Luke Harden, as they left the party in Bacup, a small town in northwest England, in November last year — leaving the helpless victim to die in the street.
Matabiswana was dressed as a clown when he pummeled Harden so hard that the front of his face “caved in,” prosecutors told jurors at his murder trial, according to the Lancashire Telegraph.
Matabiswana had earlier been at a bottomless brunch with his then-girlfriend, Natalie Chadwick, who was dressed as Harley Quinn, the court heard.
Matabiswana, his girlfriend and the “respected” model were all drunk by the time of the deadly confrontation after the party, prosecutors said.
The victim, who wasn’t in costume, appeared to have also taken cocaine and ketamine — and was too drunk to defend himself, jurors heard.
The violence unfolded in the early hours after the trio, who didn’t know each other, left the party at the Rosemount Working Men’s Club.
Harden was spotted drunkenly throwing things in the street just moments before exchanging words with Matabiswana’s girlfriend as she tried to get a taxi, the court previously heard.
Matabiswana allegedly responded by throwing the model to the ground and then stomping and kicking his head.
The victim’s injuries — which included a swollen skull, extensive facial bruising, fractured nose and jaw and a bruised upper body — were so catastrophic that it was impossible to determine what would have been the fatal blow, the court heard.
Harden, who had no defensive injuries, was killed in about a minute, prosecutors argued.
As he lay dying on the ground, prosecutors said Matabiswana failed to call first responders. Instead, he allegedly used the victim’s phone to call friends and inform them their pal was injured.
Witnesses testified they saw “the girl and the lad dressed as a clown” standing idly by as first responders performed CPR.
Text messages later recovered from Matabiswana’s own phone allegedly showed him boasting that he had “beat someone up for trying to rape some girl” and “I beat him up and he died.”
In one text, he said he might “make a run for it,” the court heard.
The suspected murderer was busted days later as he headed to Manchester airport in an apparent bid to leave the country, according to prosecutors.
Matabiswana and his girlfriend were both charged with murder.
Chadwick was found not guilty in January after prosecutors said they reviewed evidence and found they had no case against her.
Matabiswana, meanwhile, has pleaded not guilty. His defense team claim he was only acting in self-defense after Harden apparently tried to grab his girlfriend.
