Clay Peter Stone ‘thought he was f***ed’ as larger man repeatedly punched him in the head
A man on trial for manslaughter has told the court he was scared as a larger, shirtless man grabbed hold of him and punched him repeatedly in the head inside his own home.
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A MAN on trial for manslaughter has told the court he was scared and “thought he was f***ed” as a larger, shirtless man grabbed hold of him and punched him repeatedly in the head inside his own unit.
Clay Peter Stone, 31, pleaded not guilty to manslaughter at the start of his trial earlier this week and took the stand to give evidence on Friday.
He is accused of causing the death of Innisfail man Raymond Smerdelj, 32, who died after a steak knife pierced his heart on October 3, 2019, inside Mr Stone’s Innisfail unit.
Giving evidence, Mr Stone told the court he had come home from a visit to hospital for an infected tooth early in the afternoon to find a group of people socialising in the communal area out the back of his unit.
Doped up on painkillers, he went inside to rest, he told the court.
At one point in the afternoon a woman who he was in a casual sexual relationship with, Brittany Eyles, came into the apartment and asked her if he could source her some ice, to which he said no, the court heard.
Text messages were shown to the court describing how hours later, Mr Stone told Ms Eyles he would give her the drugs if she had sex with him.
Ms Eyles returned to Ms Stone’s unit and they went and sat in his bedroom, the court heard.
Mr Stone told the court he had lied to Ms Eyles about having drugs and had simply wanted to spend time with her because he wanted more out of the relationship.
He continued the ruse, even leaving the room to grab a knife to divvy up the drugs on account of not having a straw to use as a “scoop”, he told the court.
Returning with the knife, he told Ms Eyles he had no drugs and had stood up to leave his bedroom when Mr Smerdelj appeared in the doorway with “a loud bang”, Mr Stone told the court.
“He had a rum tin in his hand and no shirt on,” Mr Stone said.
Mr Stone said Mr Smerdelj was “confronting” and “agitated” and said he wanted a half ball (of ice).
With the knife in his right hand near his waist and pointing to the back door with his left hand, Mr Stone told the court he said: “What are you doing in my f***ing house, get out I don’t know you.”
It was then that Mr Smerdelj put his rum can down and began assaulting Mr Stone, the court heard.
Mr Stone said he was punched several times in the head before Mr Smerdelj, who he described as bigger than him, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and began uppercutting him and punching him over the top of the head.
Defence barrister Frank Richards asked Mr Stone what he thought would happen to him.
“I was scared, I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know why he’d basically just come and started punching me after telling him to get out,” Mr Stone said.
“I thought I was f***ed. It’s hard to explain. I was getting punched that many times and he just wouldn’t let go.
“I was trying to get him off me by shoving him and I just thought if he knocks me out he’s going to jump on my head or I’m going to be hurt bad … I just couldn’t do anything.”
Mr Stone described trying to push Mr Smerdelj away several times, before one final shove where he noticed “a little bit of warmth” on his hand and blood everywhere and the attack stopped.
“He didn't say a single word to me, just turned around and walked straight out the unit,” Mr Stone said.
Under cross examination from Crown prosecutor Danny Boyle, Mr Stone said he had no intention of stabbing Mr Smerdelj.
Mr Boyle honed in on how Mr Stone said he was holding the knife at a roughly 45 degree angle when he pushed Mr Smerdelj.
“What I’m suggesting to you is that in order to cause (the fatal) injury, it requires your hand to be around so that the knife would go in at a more direct (angle) perpendicular to the skin,” Mr Boyle said.
“I can’t comment on that. He had hold of me with that hand so he would have been already twisted that way and the other hand he was uppercutting me. I can’t comment on the angle or what way it went in or anything like that,” Mr Stone replied.
Mr Stone was also quizzed about why he threw the knife on to the roof of the unit blocks before leaving for a friend’s house.
He said he panicked and was scared and that there was much about the afternoon he couldn't recall.
“I suggest that the reason you hid the knife and the reason you left the unit was because you knew you weren’t acting to defend yourself or your house against Mr Smerdelj,” Mr Boyle put to Mr Stone.
“That’s not correct,” he replied.
He was also quizzed about messages he sent to Ms Eyles later that night.
“What about the message at 8pm: Bree plz you are the only one that can have my back. I’m sorry the past couple of weeks I’ve been trying to impress u and now look im sorry.” Mr Boyle said, reading out one message.
“So what about you saying that she can basically have your back. Does that mean cover for you?” Mr Boyle asked.
“No. I’ve never asked anyone to cover for me. Everybody seen what happened, they’ve all said what happened. I didn’t ask anyone to say things and I wasn’t expecting her to either. I just knew she was there, she witnessed what had happened, and if police needed to speak to someone they could talk to her.”
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