A child who reportedly saw a man “shaking” after being ordered to pay an alleged drug debt to Humza Yousaf’s brother-in-law claimed he “could not remember” speaking to police, a court has heard.
Ramsay El-Nakla, 37, is on trial at the High Court in Edinburgh and is the brother of Dundee councillor Nadia El-Nakla, the wife of former first minister Mr Yousaf.
El-Nakla is on trial along with co-accused Stephen Stewart, 52, Jennifer Souter, 39, and Victoria McGowan, 43.
The case follows the death of Ryan Munro, 36, who fell from a flat window in Dundee’s Morgan Street after allegedly being threatened.
El-Nakla is accused of extortion and dealing class A drugs, but does not face a charge over Mr Munro’s death on 10 January 2024.
Stewart, Souter and McGowan additionally face a charge specifically in relation to the plumber’s death.
All four deny all charges.
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In a police interview recorded on 12 January 2024, the boy – who cannot be named for legal reasons – said he went to the Morgan Street property with El-Nakla, after the defendant had dropped off McGowan and Stewart at another flat in Dundee.
He said El-Nakla spent 20 minutes fixing the power and that “Vicky and Stevie offered to pay for a hotel” in exchange for obtaining money from a man in the flat.
The boy described the man as “shaking”. In the video interview, he alleged El-Nakla said: “Do you have the money you are due Stevie and Vicky? I need it.”
The boy claimed Mr Munro replied that he would get his brother to send the money.
El-Nakla was then alleged to have asked: “We’ve got £200, is that enough?”
The boy added: “They said ‘he’s going to need to get the other money soon’.”
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In the interview, the child also described the flat as the same property where Mr Munro jumped from the window.
While under cross-examination by advocate depute Alex Prentice on Wednesday, the youngster said he could not remember the interview and meeting with police.
Detective Constable Darren Suttie also gave evidence and said he obtained a formal statement from witness Taylor Stephenson on 13 February 2024, however she became “uncooperative” and left before it could be signed.
Mr Prentice read the statement which said: “Jennifer shouted at Ryan, saying ‘why didn’t you lock the door, where’s [my] stuff’.
“He said he didn’t know and he left [because] Jennifer fell asleep and as he went down the stairs he saw two other people coming up the stairs, he said he didn’t know who they were and he didn’t take the stuff.”
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Another witness, Lorraine Jackson, provided an informal statement which read: “She has sourced crack through the letterbox which was given to her by Jennifer Souter, identifying her by voice, however she also heard Victoria McGowan and Stephen Stewart’s voices within the flat, along with another voice, which she could not identify and could not confirm if it was male or female.”
In a police interview on 3 April 2024, which was shown to the jury, Souter was read a statement she provided on 17 January 2024.
In the statement, she admitted being at the flat on Morgan Street on 8 January 2024 with McGowan and Stewart but said she left the following day, and that “Vicky had some visitors but I didn’t see them as she took them into a separate room”.
She claimed when she was approached by CID on 11 January 2024 about the incident at Morgan Street, she had “no idea what had happened”.
Souter’s police statement said she attended her father’s funeral and was told by two associates that “Steve Stewart had jumped out of Vicky’s window on Morgan Street”, adding: “I heard Steve was thrown out the window by a male.”
The trial, before judge Lady Drummond, continues.
