Chesterfield former soldier hit the ground 'like you were dropping a bag of potatoes' after he was hit with beer bottle, murder trial told

Joseph Robotham died following the incident outside the town’s Vibe Bar, in Holywell Street, Chesterfield, in the early hours of Saturday, February 8 last year.

Giving evidence on the third day of the murder trial of Connor Rose at Derby Chown Court on Thursday, January 21, Mr Robotham’s partner, Chelsea Neale, described the attack to the jury.

She said: "The first time I knew something was wrong I was coming back from the toilet and I heard someone shout "fight". I could see Joe because he was quite tall.

"Joe seemed to look like he had got his guard up - he was bouncing around a little bit. I tried to get to him, but because of the amount of people I couldn't get to him.

"I can usually calm him down when he's angry. I wanted to stop what was happening but everyone was crowding around.

"I saw the bouncers take hold of him - there was a lot happening and a lot of people around. He seemed distressed but he was trying to get his point across that it wasn't him.”

She then described pushing through the crowd to get to her partner after he was ejected from the club in a bid to calm him down.

She told the court: “There was a noise and then something went all over me - it was like a breaking or a smashing sound. Joe's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell to the ground. I shouted 'no' and the person who did it was laughing. When Joe fell it was like a bag of potatoes had been dropped.

“There was a girl who came over and took me aside. There were people on the floor with him trying to perform first aid."

She told the court that Mr Robotham was “over the moon” when he found out the day before that he didn’t have cancer, as he had feared, and they had decided to go out separately to celebrate, and later met up at Vibe.

The court had earlier heard that Rose, of no fixed address, slammed a beer bottle into Mr Robotham’s face, knocking him out cold. As he fell he hit his head on the floor, causing devastating injuries. He died in hospital the following day.

Later in today’s proceedings, Kane Walker, a work friend of Mr Robotham, who was out drinking with him at the time he was attacked, told the court that they had gone out at about 6pm and had a few drinks in the Crown and Anchor pub in Chesterfield.

They had then visited various bars around the time and ended up in Vibe in the early hours of the following morning.

He described Mr Robotham as drunk but “alright at the time they entered the bar.

Rose has admitted manslaughter but denies murder.

The trial continues.

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