A man accused of a murder on Roaches Line almost four years ago was pleading his innocence in the immediate aftermath of the incident, a witness testified yesterday.

Even as he was trying CPR, Patrick Sulurayok, now 34, was claiming self-defence.

So says Nathan Andrews, a deckhand on a trawler that had just docked in Bay Roberts after a month at sea.

He was in a cabin next to one rented by four of his crewmates from Nunavut, including the accused and the victim, Bernard Otuk, 26.

Andrews said he saw all four, each with a case of beer, walking to their cabin, and later helped a drunken Otuk find his way back, noticing marijuana and cocaine inside.

A short time later, around 9 p.m., one of the four ran to him for help, saying “Bernard’s not breathing.”

Andrews said he saw Otuk on the floor and Sulurayok trying CPR while repeating: “He was trying to fight all of us. I choked him. It was self-defence.”

Otuk’s eyes were open but he was unconscious, moaning and frothing at the mouth, said Andrews, as the victim’s mother sobbed in the courtroom.

The trial has heard that Otuk got upset over family issues, in the midst of the drugs and drinking, with Sulurayok trying to restrain him in a choke hold.

That’s not in dispute.

The question for the jury is whether it crossed the line from self-defence to murder.

The only eye witness to the choking is scheduled to testify this afternoon.