The jury whose job it is to decide whether New Zealander Andy Marshall's death was an accident or murder yesterday visited the Perth hotel where he died.

Marshall, 29, died in May last year after Stefan Pahia Schmidt, 26, pushed him through a window on the second storey of Cottesloe's Ocean Beach Hotel.

The force of the push sent Marshall through the window, where he plunged several metres to the ground below. He later died in hospital.

Schmidt does not deny pushing Marshall, but his lawyer has told the jury it was a "dreadful accident", rather than murder or manslaughter.

The jury, the accused, supreme court Justice Ralph Simmonds, state prosecutors and defence lawyers visited the hotel yesterday so jurors could appreciate the size and dimensions of the bar and the window through which Marshall fell.

They spent about 15 minutes in the bar before returning to the Supreme Court of Western Australia, where the trial continued.

Physicist Dr Ralph James continued giving evidence yesterday, after telling the court on Thursday that it was speed, not weight, that was the dominant factor in determining the minimum force needed to break the windows.

The court heard underlying factors, such as pre-existing weakness in the glass also played a vital role in determining the force needed to break the glass.

Marshall, originally from Feilding, was living in Perth and working as roof tiler and musician when he visited the hotel on May 8, just a few months after his cousin Scott Guy was killed at his Feilding home.

Witnesses have told the court that Schmidt arrived at the hotel with a large group, including two women who were chatting with Marshall later in the night.

Schmidt witnessed this encounter, went up to Marshall and the women, telling the women to leave, before pushing Marshall through the window, witnesses said.

At the time of the incident Schmidt weighed 152kg and Marshall 90kg.

After Marshall was sent flying through the window, Schmidt walked out of the hotel bar, punching another patron on the way, witnesses said.

His girlfriend told the court that he sent her a smiley face via text only a few minutes later, and called her that night and told her "something bad has happened".

The trial continues on Monday.

-Fairfax NZ and The Sydney Morning Herald