A BARRY man accused of attempted murder claimed he played no part in trying to drown the woman who was pulled out of the River Taff in Cardiff in February.
Gary Pincott claims that his friend Martin Edwards threw her into the freezing cold water during a fight, saying "let her drown".
Leanne Ware, 31, was fished from the river, cold and lifeless before being resuscitated by two passers by on February 16. Her boyfriend Edwards and friend Pincott were arrested for her attempted murder.
Earlier in the trial witness Mark Gold had told Cardiff Crown Court that he had seen Pincott, 55, helping Edwards roll an unconscious woman into the river, from an embankment on Penarth Road, Cardiff.
Army Captain Gold said that he jumped into the water to help Miss Ware, having to fight off Edwards in the process.
Today (Friday, July 11) the jury heard transcripts from Pincott's police interview where he gave his account of what happened that day.
Explaining that he and Miss Ware had slept rough the previous night, having spent time drinking together, he said that the two then met up with Edwards early the next day.
Pincott and the couple, who frequently fought both physically and verbally, then purchased alcohol and begs drinking by the river.
Soon after, the couple began fighting with Pincott attempting to intervene and calm Edwards down. He said that they were swearing at each other and Edwards was slapping and grabbing Miss Ware.
Being knocked to the ground himself by Edwards he then saw Miss Ware "launched" into the river.
Unable to help her, due to various physical ailments, Pincott said he attempted to talk Edwards into action.
"I thought 'she's going to die in that water, it's freezing'" he told police afterwards.
"I was screaming at him but he just kept saying 'leave her'."
Running to get help as Miss Ware became unconscious Pincott then removed himself from the scene, being arrested shortly afterwards on a nearby bridge. He claims to have seen none of Miss Ware's subsequent rescue.
Cardiff man Edwards, 43, gave an entirely different account whereby him and Miss Ware had been merely "bantering" before she jumped or fell into the water of her own accord and it was in fact him that rescued her from the water, leaping in and swimming with her to the embankment.
The trial continues.