Bossley Park stabbing murder: Wade Martinez and Jake Tortell found guilty of George Garmo’s death
A JURY has found two men guilty of the murder of Sydney man Gwar “George” Garmo who was chased through suburban streets before he died from fatal stab wounds on Valentine’s Day in 2015.
NSW
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A JURY has found two men guilty of the murder of Sydney man Gwar “George” Garmo who was chased through suburban backyards and streets before he died from fatal stab wounds on a driveway on Valentine’s Day in 2015.
The jury delivered its verdicts today, after a week of deliberations, finding close friends Wade Martinez, 24, and Jake Tortell, 21, guilty of the murder which occurred after a chilling game of cat and mouse.
During the trial, the jury heard evidence about how police found blood stains on rear fences, gates and footpaths — indicating Mr Garmo’s desperate attempts to run from his murderers before he was fatally stabbed and collapsed on a stranger’s driveway on Garnet St in Bossley Park.
During his opening address to the NSW Supreme Court in March, Crown prosecutor Craig Patrick, SC, told a jury Mr Garmo first had his fingers sliced with a 25cm knife during a fight with Martinez and Tortell on a street in Wetherill Park about 10pm on February 14, 2015.
Mr Garmo screamed at his girlfriend to get in a car with her girlfriends as he ran as fast as he could away from his attackers.
The jury heard how Martinez and Tortell later jumped into a black Lexus armed with a knife and drove around nearby streets hunting for the 20-year-old.
They eventually cornered Mr Garmo who was hiding in a friend’s Toyota Camry on Mulligan St.
Upon seeing the men who were trying to kill him, Mr Garmo ran from the Camry he was hiding in and sprinted in the direction of Garnet St, with Tortell running after him and Martinez driving the Lexus in his direction.
About 11.20pm — more than an hour after the original confrontation — a local resident returned to his home in Garnet St and found Mr Garmo dead in the driveway.
The court heard he was stabbed at least eight times and fatally stabbed in the chest, but there were no witnesses to his actual death.
Mr Patrick told the jury Martinez and Tortell were part of a joint criminal enterprise to cause serious injury or kill the deceased, and because they had entered into an agreement to do this it did not matter who fatally stabbed Mr Garmo.
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When police located the black Lexus in a Bonnyrigg carpark, they found Martinez’s driver’s licence and Mr Garmo’s blood inside.
Martinez pleaded not guilty to the murder and his defence barrister Julia Hickleton told the court the events “happened very quickly”.
She argued her client acted in self defence after seeing Mr Garmo who had previously threatened to kill him.
Tortell also pleaded not guilty with his defence barrister Keith Chapple, SC, telling the jury there was no evidence his client had ever been in possession of a knife or driven the black Lexus that night.
Martinez and Tortell are expected to face a sentencing hearing on July 24.
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