Man related to first minister asked if I wanted crack, witness tells court

A drug user told police: “A guy who was related to the first minister asked if I wanted to buy some crack,” a court has heard.

Ramsay El-Nakla, 37, the brother-in-law of former first minister Humza Yousaf, is on trial at the High Court in Edinburgh along with co-accused Stephen Stewart, 52, Jennifer Souter, 39, and Victoria McGowan, 43.

It follows the death of a man who fell from a window in a property on Morgan Street, Dundee, after allegedly being threatened.

El-Nakla is accused of extortion and dealing class A drugs, but does not face a charge in relation to the alleged killing of Ryan Munro on January 10, 2024.

Stewart, Souter and McGowan additionally face a charge specifically in relation to the death.

All four deny the charges.

On Friday, a witness at the trial – drug user Darren Small, 38 – identified Stewart as someone he had bought crack cocaine from.

He was read a police statement from January 27 2024 regarding the encounter.

He said in the statement: “I can’t remember what day it was exactly but I think it was a couple of weeks ago, I was in the Curry House between 9-10pm. When I was there I started speaking to a guy, I had never met him before in my life.

“He never said his name but he said he was related to first minister.

“The guy who was related to the first minister asked if I wanted to buy some crack and he knew where to get some. I walked with these two males to a flat on Morgan Street.”

When the statement was put to him in court, Mr Small responded: “Yeah, that’s truth.”

Advocate depute Alex Prentice asked: “Is this the occasion you went to obtain crack from the person Stevie?”

Mr Small said: “Yes.”

Mr Munro’s brother Mark, 40, also gave evidence on Friday.

He told the court they had both lived together on Morgan Street for around 18 months, and the family provided cash to fund his brother’s heroin and crack cocaine addiction after an unsuccessful stint in rehab.

He said Mr Munro, who worked as a plumber, had earned around £60 on January 9, and that he would buy drugs “from across the road”.

Giving evidence, he said the fire alarm went off on the afternoon of January 9 when his sibling was “smoking heroin”, and he heard a woman’s voice in the hallway and his brother leaving. He said he received a call around midnight asking for £200.

He said he was unable to reach Mr Munro as his phone went “straight to voicemail”, and was informed by police that his brother had “had a fall” at around 7pm.

El-Nakla’s ex-partner, Wiktoria Skoczen, 42, a mother-of-five, told the court that on the evening of January 9, he left the flat with her stepson to collect a pizza but did not come home.

Ms Skoczen said on the school run the following day, she passed a police cordon on Morgan Street and became concerned for her partner.

Giving evidence in broken English, she told the court: “When I was walking to school I saw police on the street and I know there’s a drug dealer living there… so I was terrified something happened to him [El-Nakla].”

She said when she finally got in contact with El-Nakla, he “told me about the person who fell from the window and he is scared”.

Mr Prentice clarified: “Ramsay told you there was a guy there who was terrified… that he was accused of stealing drugs or money.”

Ms Skoczen said the man “managed to organise £200 to send to Ramsay’s bank account”, and later El-Nakla “took it out of cash machine and handed it to Stevie”.

In a statement given to police on January 12 2024, she said: “Ramsay said that the man was being held as he was getting accused of stealing drugs and money from Steve.”

Under cross-examination from Kris Gilmartin KC, representing El-Nakla, the witness said: “Ramsay was already aware the guy was in a coma, he got scared, he was hoping the guy was going to wake up and tell the truth about what happened at the flat but obviously that never took place.”

On Friday afternoon, the trial heard from police who searched the property on Morgan Street.

They told the court they discovered syringes, scales and snap-bags, as well as an overturned bed in the front room.

Detective Constable Andrew Rae said the flat was registered in the name of McGowan, and the door had been broken down by police before he became involved in the case on January 15.

Photographs shown to the court showed a “cluttered” front room and bedroom, with two large windows in the lounge.

Mr Rae said: “I was informed the flat was in name of Victoria McGowan and she was in custody at that time.”

He said there appeared to be “a bed in the living room turned on its side”, and the court heard that items including baking powder were seized.

Court papers allege Stewart, Souter and McGowan “did threaten and intimidate” Mr Munro, “thereby placing him in an extreme state of fear and alarm for his safety, and cause said Ryan Munro to escape said flat from a window at height, causing him to fall from said window and strike the ground, whereby he was so severely injured that he died there and you did kill him”.

The court heard that following a post-mortem examination, the cause of Mr Munro’s death was found to be traumatic brain injury, blunt force trauma, and fall from height.

All four co-accused deny the charges, while Souter, McGowan and Stewart deny dealing cocaine from the same flat between July 1 2023 and January 11 2024, and also deny a charge of abduction relating to Mr Munro.

Stewart, McGowan and El-Nakla all deny dealing heroin from a flat in Dundee between July 1 2023 and January 11 2024, while El-Nakla also denies dealing cocaine from the flat between January 9 and 11 2024, as well as another home in the city.

The trial before Judge Lady Drummond continues.