Dead man consumed 39 drinks, court told

A country Victorian footballer who died after being punched once by a clubmate as
they celebrated a rare premiership win was palpably drunk at the time, a jury has
heard.
Father-of-two Nathan Alsop, 37, consumed an estimated 39 standard drinks over about
12 hours before he was punched by Daniel Singleton, 30, as they celebrated East
Geelong Football Club's win in the local grand final last September.
Singleton, of Highton near Geelong, has pleaded not guilty to Mr Alsop's manslaughter.
A Victorian Supreme Court jury on Monday heard that Mr Alsop fell onto grass and did
not sustain a serious brain injury.
Singleton's barrister, Tony Lewis, said the question in the trial was whether a
person performing the precise acts that his client performed would know that one
single blow - one that was not of severe force - carried with it an appreciable risk
of serious injury to Mr Alsop.
"There is a big issue in this trial as to what killed Mr Alsop and, in particular,
(whether) the blow by Mr Singleton was an operative cause of death, a substantial
contribution to the death of Mr Alsop," Mr Lewis said.
Prosecutor Brendan Kissane showed jurors a crime-scene DVD of Mr Alsop lying dead on
the grass not far from the edge of the oval.
Behind him in the football clubrooms are balloons and streamers in the yellow and
red colours of the club.
The win, by the club's seniors team, which neither Mr Alsop nor Singleton played for
on the day, was the club's first premiership in 17 years, the court heard.
Mr Kissane said Singleton was one of two people who spoke to Mr Alsop about him
urinating on the oval close to women and children.
Mr Alsop said to Singleton: "You took my wife to the football".
Singleton then punched Mr Alsop on the right side of the head and Mr Alsop fell to
the ground.
"The Crown case is that although the alcohol concentration of Nathan Alsop played a
part in the mechanism of death ... it was the blow delivered by the accused man that
was the precipitating event, and that that blow was the substantial cause of death,"
Mr Kissane said.
In other words, the prosecutor said, if Mr Alsop had not been hit in the head in the
manner that occurred on that night, he would not have died. He would not have died
from imbibing alcohol alone, as sometimes occurs.
Mr Alsop's wife Tara told the court she had recently split amicably from her husband
of three years with whom she had two children.
The week before his death she had a spare ticket to an AFL game in Melbourne and
posted a notice on Facebook to see if anybody wanted it.
She received a phone call saying that Singleton wanted the ticket. He joined Ms
Alsop and two of her friends on a supporters' bus to the game.
Ms Alsop said she had "never, ever, ever, ever" been romantically involved with
Singleton.
The trial before Justice Katharine Williams continues on Tuesday.