The Perth man accused of a fatal “coward punch” attack on high-profile former Labor strategist Tim Picton will fight a manslaughter charge at trial, a court has heard.
Brodie Dewar, 20, was arrested after Picton was hospitalised following the alleged assault outside Paramount nightclub, in Perth’s entertainment precinct of Northbridge, in the early hours of December 27.
A charge of grievous bodily harm was upgraded to manslaughter following Picton’s death days later. Dewar pleaded not guilty to the charge in Stirling Gardens Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
CCTV footage previously aired in court showed Picton, a Mineral Resources director and former WA Labor secretary, standing and talking to Dewar outside the venue, who then raises his right arm and punches Picton in the face.
Picton can be seen falling to the floor, where he remained still. He was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital and placed in an induced coma after the alleged attack and underwent surgery for a serious brain bleed and fractured skull.
Dewar was arrested over the incident, as well as a separate assault on a man in Kalamunda, in Perth’s east, days earlier, which he pleaded guilty to last week.
But the 20-year-old will fight the accusation he is responsible for Picton’s death, with the court previously hearing Dewar’s claims he was defending his young female cousin from unwanted advances on the night of the alleged incident.
Dewar will be sentenced over the Kalamunda incident on May 5 and will be back before Stirling Gardens Magistrates Court a few weeks later for a procedural hearing in relation to the manslaughter charge before the matter will head to trial.
Picton was regarded as the architect of some of WA Labor’s biggest successes, including Mark McGowan’s 2021 election win and federal Labor’s resurgence in the state during the 2022 election.
He left politics in 2022 to work for Mineral Resources as a director, and had also previously worked with the Victorian and South Australian Labor parties.
Picton’s brother, Chris Picton, is the South Australian state development minister, and was formerly that state’s health minister.
Nearly 750 people attended a memorial for Picton at Optus Stadium on January 23.
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