One of the Perth men accused of abducting and assaulting an Angus craftsman said they had arranged to collect money from the complainer.
Robert Selby and William Moore appeared at Forfar Sheriff Court accused of attacking Jonathon Gourley at his Airlie home and forcing him to draw £1,500 from a Forfar bank against his will.
Selby and Moore deny detaining Mr Gourley, robbing him, and assaulting him to his severe injury, permanent disfigurement, permanent impairment and to the danger of his life.
Jurors previously heard evidence from Mr Gourley, 42, that he took “around 80 punches” to the temple from Moore before the pair drove him to the Clydesdale Bank in Castle Street on October 22 last year.
The owner of Perthshire company Peter Selby Flooring, Selby said he had done a “lot of work” on Mr Gourley’s house over eight months along with his stepfather David Bolt.
“Jon ran out of money and he could no longer pay us,” he said.
“I did send a final bill out. I spoke to him on the fifth of October and asked him if he had the money.
“He said not now but to come round in two weeks.”
Selby said he had been working at the village of Waterloo, near Bankfoot, with Moore who had recently gone into the building trade.
“He had heard a lot about Jon’s house and wanted to come along to see what we had done there he is keen,” he said.
They had finished work early on October 22 and decided to call on Mr Gourley to collect £1,500 which was outstanding to Selby and Mr Bolt.
“There was no assault. There was no demand. He asked me for a receipt and I wrote him one,” he said.
Selby’s solicitor Stephen Laverty asked: “Was there any sense in which you forced him to go with you to the bank?”
“It was Jon who suggested we had to go to the bank,” he replied.
At the close of Crown evidence, the court heard from PC Sharon McGuinness, who first visited Mr Gourley the day after the incident, and referred the matter to CID.
DC John Price confirmed the statement he later took from the man, which contained the passage: “He looked like an absolute psychopath. He punched me about 40 times I couldn’t stop bleeding.”
The trial, in front of a jury of seven women and seven men, continues.