Greg David McLellan pleaded not guilty to murder of roommate Matthew Joyce at Mundingburra home

After hours of deliberating a Townsville jury has delivered its verdict in the trial where a man claimed he stabbed and killed his roommate as a form of self-defence.

Townsville Supreme Court: Greg David McLellan pleaded not guilty to murder of roommate Matthew Joyce at Mundingburra home

After hours of deliberating a jury has found a man guilty of murdering his roommate after he stabbed him in the neck at their Mundingburra home.

Greg David McLellan had pleaded not guilty to murdering Matthew Joyce in 2021 and claimed he was defending himself from being stabbed by Mr Joyce who was trying to steal his money.

A jury ultimately rejected that argument following a four-day trial in Townsville Supreme Court, taking them only a few hours to decide.

McLellan will be sentenced on Thursday afternoon.

More to come.

TRIAL WRAPS

A man who is accused of murdering his roommate, allegedly did so to protect himself after the now-deceased man came at him with a knife trying to steal the compensation money the man had been granted, according to defence.

In the last day of the trial where Greg McLellan pleaded not guilty to murdering Matthew Joyce at their Mundingburra home in 2021, the man’s lawyer told the jury his client was an “innocent man” and they should find him not guilty.

“He’s not guilty of the offence of murder or manslaughter and nothing that may lurk in his past changes that one bit,” defence barrister Ed Whitton said.

The defence said that while Mr Joyce was “no doubt a kind and decent man” there was evidence that he became violent when intoxicated by methamphetamine which a medical expert said he had in his system in the days before his death.

“(Mr Joyce) did something violent and out of character,” Mr Whitton said.

He told the jury that Mr Joyce tried to steal compensation money Mr McLellan received by swiping at him with a knife.

“Mr Joyce turned on him and told him and (his dog) to get the f—k out and he was taking his money,” Mr Whitton said.

“(Mr McLellan) says at that point (Mr Joyce) swiped at him with the knife, he thought it was half-hearted then stabbed at him a second time and he knew it was serious and knew he was in danger.

“(Mr Joyce) was distracted by (the dog) who was growling at him and (Mr McLellan) shoved his arm and the knife went into his neck.”

The defence lawyer said Mr McLellan had been grateful for Mr Joyce looking after his dog and tried to repay him by supplying him with drugs.

“If he’s the cold blooded killer the crown says he is, he wouldn’t have left it as a single stab wound with mild force,” Mr Whitton said.

Greg McLellan on trial for the murder of his roommate Matthew Joyce. Picture: Facebook

The lawyer argued that if Mr McLellan wanted to kill Mr Joyce he would have followed up the stabbing with another attack.

He also said the murder accused said “stupid things” after the offence, not to hide what he had done and if the lies were told to hide the offence it was the “worst attempt of all time” noting the man left blood on his leg and his own blood where he hid the knife.

“It’s the perfect example of someone who said stupid things and did stupid things because they had caused at least a serious injury and knowing police were on the way,” Mr Whitton said.

Addressing that argument in his own closing address, crown prosecutor Andrew Walklate said just because Mr McLellan wasn’t a “criminal mastermind” didn’t mean his lies were not “calculated”.

“He knew the truth would implicate him in these offences,” the crown said.

Mr Walklate recounted the questions he asked Mr McLellan when he took the stand and gave his own evidence – he put to the man that if someone puts a knife into someone’s neck it’s going to cause serious harm, which the man agreed.

“The defendant says if you deliberately place a knife into someone’s neck… he knows the harm that a knife can do, he told you that,” Mr Walklate said to the jury.

While it had been suggested during the trial that the two men fought over marijuana as Mr McLellan told the court he tried to give Mr Joyce $600 worth of the drug to sell and make profit from and was “dumbfounded” that he wouldn’t take it, the crown said they placed no reliance on that.

“It doesn’t seem to be about an offer of cannabis,” he said.

He also told the jury they should not believe that Mr Joyce tried to rob him.

“We don’t know what the argument is about unless you believe the defendant’s version,” he said.

He told the jury that Mr McLellan’s version of how it unfolded didn’t align with the forensic evidence, and that the blood pool and trail didn’t match with where the man said the stabbing occurred.

“If it was self-defence there were other options open to him… instead his decision in his account is to thrust, push forward with his hands and make sure the knife goes back towards Matthew Joyce,” Mr Walklate said.

Justice David North began summing up the trial on Tuesday afternoon and the jury is set to start deliberating Wednesday in Townsville Supreme Court.

DAY TWO OF TRIAL

A woman has shared harrowing details in court of how she held a man in her arms and tried to save his life after he was stabbed in the neck, bringing tears to the eyes of the public gallery.

Greg David McLellan pleaded not guilty to murdering his roommate Matthew Joyce, who he stabbed in the side of the neck at their Mundingburra property in June 2021.

On day two of the trial, neighbours who gathered around Mr Joyce after he stumbled into the front yard holding his neck told a jury of how they asked the man what happened to him and he pointed to Mr McLellan.

Crown prosecutor Andrew Walklate called a woman to the stand who had lived across the road from Mr Joyce for years, and detailed that she sat on the ground with him trying to stop the bleeding.

Police attend the scene of a fatal stabbing on China St, Mundingburra. Picture: Cameron Bates

She said she yelled at Mr McLellan, “you f—king killed him” and he replied “no I didn’t, no I didn’t” before he walked back inside.

Multiple witnesses who took the stand on Thursday said Mr McLellan was originally wearing a white shirt with blood stains on it, before he walked out of the house with a black shirt on.

Defence barrister Ed Whitton asked multiple witnesses if they had seen a white cloth being held up to Mr Joyce’s neck to stop the bleeding.

One neighbour said he believed it had been a white shirt that was being used, another woman who witnessed the aftermath said she didn’t see any white cloth or sheet at all, while another stated she saw “white and blood” but couldn’t determine what it was.

A mother who had been driving into Townsville city on the day Mr Joyce was killed, happened to pull up in front of the house as her baby was crying and bared witness to the man in the front yard bleeding from the neck.

She told the jury a man, who was believed to be Mr McLellan, leaned outside the front gate and asked for help calling triple-0.

“He said someone had been stabbed or injured,” she said.

‘No he fell’ - Mr McLellan

She said the man ran back towards the front door of the house, when neighbours started to gather.

“I remember (Mr Joyce) standing up holding his neck,” the mother said.

“I recall (Mr McLellan) pacing up and down the front yard going up and down the steps.

“At one point I noticed him go inside the house. The woman was shouting ‘you’ve killed him, you’ve killed him’ and the man in the white shirt said ‘no he fell’.”

The woman said she stayed at the front of the house still trying to look after her child in the car.

“The neighbours asked the injured man, ‘who did this to you?’ and he used his whole hand and pointed towards the gentleman in the white shirt,” the witness said.

During cross examination Mr Whitton asked the woman if she recalled that McLellan asked her to call triple-0 because he didn’t have a phone to which she agreed.

The trial is expected to continue Friday in Townsville Supreme Court.

DAY ONE OF TRIAL

Matthew Joyce died in the arms of his neighbours and friend who tried to save him in the front yard of his Townsville home, a jury was told at the beginning of a murder trial.

The 52-year-old was stabbed in the neck by his roommate Greg David McLellan at their China Street, Mundingburra home in June 2021.

On Wednesday Mr McLellan, 48, pleaded not guilty to murder in Townsville Supreme Court.

Mr McLellan’s lawyer, barrister Ed Whitton instructed by Legal Aid Queensland told a jury the trial would not be a “whodunit” trial and that it was accepted by all parties that Mr McLellan did stab his roommate in the neck which killed him.

“You’re not going to have to ponder any alternative options as to how the deceased died,” Mr Whitton said.

“You will have to consider whether he was entitled to do what he did in order to protect himself.”

Greg David McLellan was charged with murder after the death of his housemate.

Crown prosecutor Andrew Walklate told the jury that Mr Joyce died from a severed carotid artery and despite his neighbour’s rendering aid he was unable to survive.

Some of the neighbours are expected to give witness evidence in the trial, and are said to have asked Mr Joyce what happened when they were trying to save him, with Mr Walklate telling the jury the dying man pointed towards Mr McLellan who stood in the doorway.

The crown said a neighbour heard Mr Joyce shout ‘I’m not doing that’ before he closed a car bonnet and walked inside the home while Mr McLellan remained outside “agitated and pacing backwards and forwards”.

The neighbour then heard Mr Joyce say the word “knife”, and later heard Mr McLellan say “you made me do it” and “I’ve killed him”, the crown said.

Mr Walklate showed pictures to the jury, many of which showed blood splatters throughout the house and images of a loosened bathroom tile that had the knife hidden inside with Mr Joyce’s blood on the blade, and Mr McLellan’s DNA on the handle.

“It’s my case that he hid the knife and did so as he felt if discovered it would implicate him of the offence,” Mr Walklate said.

After Mr Joyce was stabbed, it’s the crown’s argument that Mr McLellan packed a bag with a significant amount of money from a compensation pay out he received, thongs and a cap and that he changed shirts after the wounding.

Part of the crown’s case is that Mr McLellan gave various versions of what happened to people – at first he told the neighbours he was in his room and that Mr Joyce had fallen, then he told police there was a group of people at the house and he heard screaming and yelling from Mr Joyce.

It’s also alleged he told his sister in a recorded phone call that he was playing with his dog and that Mr Joyce tried to join in when they both collided and “an accident” had occurred.

Mr McLellan’s lawyer said the jury would be hearing “pretty unsavoury things” about the pair’s drug use.

“You will hear the deceased was looking after (Mr McLellan’s) dog as he was serving time in custody,” Mr Whitton said.

“The defence is going to make absolutely no secret of those things.

“Keep an ear out for evidence that Mr McLellan was immediately asking for an ambulance to be called and that the force used to inflict that fatal wound was perhaps as little as mild and up to moderate.”

Witnesses to give evidence include a forensic scientist, various neighbours, members of Mr Joyce’s family, paramedics, a pathologist and investigating officers.

The trial is expected to go between four to six days before Justice David North and will see a jury of seven women and five men deliberate.

Originally published as Greg David McLellan pleaded not guilty to murder of roommate Matthew Joyce at Mundingburra home