A 36-year-old Pembroke man fought back tears as he recalled the domestic dispute that led to the death of his uncle.

The Supreme Court heard Randall Walker hit his uncle on the jaw after being twice pushed in a row over smoking.

His uncle knocked his head on a china cabinet and later died, Walker told the jury.

Walker, of Marsh Folly Road, was originally charged with the murder of his 56-year-old uncle Brownlow Place on October 19, 1996.

But yesterday Chief Justice Austin Ward instructed jurors that they were to only consider manslaughter.

Walker, who lived with his grandparents and his uncle at the time of the incident, testified that he was watching television when he smelled smoke.

"We are a Christian family,'' he said. "We did not allow smoking in the house.'' Walker said he went in search of the source of the smoke and found his uncle standing by their kitchen door with a cigarette in his hand. "I asked him where all of the smoke was coming from,'' he recalled. "He said he was outside smoking and it came into the house.'' Walker said he then opened the front door and side windows of the house to ventilate the home. He testified: "My uncle left the kitchen and then he rushed at me. He said `I was just outside smoking'. He shoved me using both of his hands.'' Walker said he was "shaken'' by his uncle's actions and questioned him again about the smoke.

"He said `I told you all about that before','' Walker said. "I asked him why he pushed me.'' He also told the court that his uncle pushed him a second time.

"On the spur of the moment I hit him in the jaw,'' he recalled. "I didn't intend to hit him. It was an accident. He fell back and hit his head on the china cabinet.'' Walker said it was not until he got to the Police Station that he learned that his uncle had died.

"I was messed up when I heard. I was disheartened,'' he sobbed. "He was my uncle, my family. I didn't mean for it to happen.'' Under cross examination by Attorney General Elliott Mottley, Walker admitted that he could have walked away from his uncle after he pushed him the first time.

"I was disturbed by his actions,'' Walker said.

Pathologist James Johnston testified that Mr. Place died as a result of haemorrhaging to the brain which resulted from an injury to the back of the head.

"There was more bleeding on the left side than the right,'' he said. "His skull was not fractured... There was no brain damage.'' Dr. Johnston said the bleeding resulted in the weight of the brain being pushed downwards on vital sensors which control the main functions of the body.

"This impairs breathing and can stop your heart,'' he explained. "His injuries to the brain led to his heart stopping.'' Dr. Johnston said the only external injuries he found on Mr. Place were a laceration to the left side of the chin and one on his hand. Although he found evidence that Mr. Place had high blood pressure and an enlarged heart, Dr.

Johnston said the man did not have a heart attack or a stroke.

"His heart was not in the best state,'' he conceded. "But he did not have a heart attack.'' During Cross examination by Walker's lawyer Delroy Duncan, Dr. Johnston admitted that Mr. Place's high blood pressure and slightly clogged arteries might have caused him to bleed easier than a normal person.

"His blood vessels were weaker, so it would have taken a lesser blow to cause damage,'' he explained. "He was more susceptible to injury. If he was not in that condition, the injury may not have been life-threatening.'' Mr. Place's doctor Roger Wong told the court that his 165-pound patient had complained of chest pains before his death.

And he said that he had urged Mr. Place to stop smoking and had put him on medication to control his blood pressure.

The case will continue today. Walker was released on bail in the sum of $1,000 plus a surety in like sum.