A roofer has denied attacking a footballer in the gents at a pub after a charity match.
Colin Roast said William Hart slipped over and smashed a urinal with his head because he had just downed a yard of ale and lost his balance on the wet floor.
He told a jury he was not acting out of jealousy because he believed Mr Hart had been seeing his wife and had not followed him into the toilets to attack him.
The self employed roofer said he is a regular customer at the Green Gables pub and had been playing for a team of customers against the pub's regular side in a charity game in June last year.
He denied threatening to 'punish' Mr Hart or cause him serious damage before the incident and said their confrontation in the toilets was a coincidence.
He said he had just seen Mr Hart downing a three and a half pint yard of ale which he had been awarded as man of the match.
Self employed roofer Roast, aged 47, of Kinnerton Way, Exeter, denies causing actual bodily harm to 28-year-old scaffolder Mr Hart.
The prosecution say he was jealous because he believed Mr Hart had been having sex with his wife Melanie and followed up threats with the attack in the pub toilets.
Mr Hart suffered a deep wound on the back of his head when it hit and broke a ceramic urinal bowl. He needed seven stitches at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital.
He has told the jury he was using the toilet when Roast followed him in, punched him to the side of the head, grabbed him in a headlock, and propelled him towards the urinal.
There is no CCTV in the toilet itself but footage from outside shows Roast going in and out just before the incident. It then shows Mr Hart going in and Roast returning to the Gents, where he remained for 33 seconds.
Mr Hart can be seen leaving eight seconds later, still adjusting the zipper on his cut-off shorts.
Roast told the jury he was distantly related to Mr Hart but did not know him well because he is about 20 years younger than him.
He said he had visited Mr Hart's parents at the Oak Cliff Hotel in St David's, Exeter, but denied making any threats while he was there.
He said there was no contact until he found himself playing on the opposing side in the pub charity match during and after which there was still no physical or verbal contact.
He said he sat with his back to Mr Hart in beer garden at the front of the Green Gables and had not followed him to the toilet.
Roast said he made two visits to the gents in the space of three minutes because he believed wrongly that the cubicle was occupied on his first foray.
He said:"I did not know Mr Hart had gone in because I had my back to him. As I went through the door and round the corner into the toilets I was confronted by him coming out.
"I think something was said and he pushed me. I pushed him back. I was protecting myself just in case he was going to attack me. He pushed me and I pushed him.
"I turned around and left and went back outside. He must have slipped. It was very slippery and he had just drunk a yard of ale.
"I did not punch him. I did not grab him in a headlock and did not throw him against the urinal."
