A man has been convicted of murder after he killed a 59-year-old man in a row over drug-taking in a communal stairwell.
Martin Montgomery, 31, kicked Nigel Mazs in the head causing him to fall backwards onto concrete after finding him and friends outside his flat in Malakoff Close, Great Yarmouth.
With the help of others, Mr Mazs was able to reach the town centre, where the emergency services were called.
He died in hospital 13 days later.
The jury of seven men and five women at Norwich Crown Court today found Montgomery guilty of murder after deliberating for less than 90 minutes.
He had denied the charge but had previously admitted to manslaughter.
His nine-day trial heard that Mr Mazs had been with friends in the stairwell just after 11am on December 22, 2023, when Montgomery came out of his flat, angered at their drug-taking.
Witnesses said he was "shouting and swearing" telling the group there were "f*****g kids here".
Shouting at him to leave Montgomery kicked Mr Mazs in the face as he bent down to pick up something, causing him to fall backwards and hit his head.
Mr Mazs lost consciousness and was bleeding heavily from facial injuries but was able, with the help of his friends, to make it into town to the top of Regent Road where his condition worsened.
Emergency services were called just after midday, around an hour after the incident, and Mr Mazs was taken to the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston.
There it was discovered he had suffered a brain haemorrhage and he was transferred to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge by helicopter.
He was placed into an induced coma and never regained consciousness.
Montgomery was arrested at around 8.30pm on the day of the attack, while in a friend's back garden.
He was in the process of trying to burn the clothes he was wearing at the time of the attack on a barbecue.
When officers came to arrest him his only response was "fair enough.”
Montgomery, who wore a white shirt and black tie, seemed emotionless as the guilty verdict was announced although there were gasps and sobs from the family of Mr Mazs who sat in the public gallery as they had throughout the trial.
Judge Alice Robinson adjourned sentence until Tuesday, November 26.
Speaking after the verdict, Detective Inspector Alix Wright said: "Firstly, I would like to offer my sympathy to the family of Nigel after his life was so swiftly and brutally taken from him.
“This was an unprovoked assault and the way that Montgomery showed no concern for his victim, a man he did not know, and continued to taunt and threaten him even after he had suffered such a catastrophic injury shows he is a dangerous individual who should be off the streets.”
He said the injuries were entirely consistent" with a kick to the face which resulted in an "accelerated impact fall" resulting in the "severe life-threatening intracranial injuries".
Dr Allinson said there was a "mass of blood underneath the skull" which resulted in Mr Mazs' brain "physically being squashed" and lead to "parts of the brain being starved of oxygen".
He said an extradural haemorrhage was "always a neurosurgical emergency".
"Unless rapidly surgically removed people with this injury will die", said Dr Allinson.
Giving evidence during the trial, Daniel Allen, who was with Mr Mazs in the stairwell, said his friend had just gone to pick something off the floor when he "just got booted in the head".
Mr Allen said his friend was kicked "straight on the nose" and was "knocked out straight away".
The witness added: "At the end of the day he was my mate, he didn't deserve that".
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