Nathan Price: Parkes man pleads not guilty to shooting murder

An axe-wielding man who was high on ice was shot dead by his young neighbour in an act of self-defence after a fight over barking dogs, a court has heard.

A 20-year-old man who shot his neighbour dead after a fight about barking dogs has fronted court for the first day of his Supreme Court murder trial while battling Covid in Parklea Correctional Centre.

Parkes man Nathan Joseph Price was dressed in full personal protective equipment, including gloves and gown, as appeared via audiovisual link to plead not guilty to murdering 25-year-old Jesse Herridge. 

Nathan Price was 18 when he shot Jesse Herridge in the chest outside a Parkes home. Picture: Facebook

Mr Price, who the court heard was fully vaccinated and happy to go ahead with the trial, also pleaded not guilty to an alternative charge of manslaughter.

In his opening address, Crown prosecutor Liam Shaw outlined an alleged version of events surrounding the shooting which occurred on Porter Street in Parkes on June 24, 2019.

Mr Shaw said a person known to Mr Price walked by Mr Herridge’s home and told his barking dogs to “shut the f*** up”.

The court heard Mr Herridge yelled back “you shut the f*** up you red headed slut”.

Shortly afterwards, Mr Shaw said Mr Price’s mother, who he lived with, was involved in an argument with Mr Herridge.

The court heard Mr Herridge took an axe handle from his home and went to Mr Price’s home.

Mr Shaw said Mr Price went inside his home for a short time and came back out the front with a loaded shortened 12-gauge shotgun.

“The deceased turned towards Nathan Price and at that time, witnesses will say he had the axe handle held above his head with his arms above his head,” Mr Shaw said.

The street where the shooting happened. Picture: Google

It was at that point Mr Herridge was shot in the chest by Mr Price who went inside the home afterwards, the court heard.

“There’s no dispute that he did run inside the house, he dismantled the gun and placed it in a garbage bag inside the house before coming back outside the house,” Mr Shaw told the court.

“The deceased moved away from the front yard … and stumbled across to the other side of the road, he fell over partly in the gutter, partly on the front yard in front of [another home].”

After a neighbour heard the gun go off, police and paramedics were called to assist as Mr Herridge’s partner Stephanie Leonard performed CPR.

Mr Shaw said Mr Price confessed to killing Mr Herridge when police arrived.

“The accused walked towards the attending police … with his hands in the air and said ‘it was me, it was me, I shot him, I was protecting my family’.”

“Another police officer asked the accused where the gun was, the accused told him it was in the house, down the hallway in a garbage bag.”

Nathan Price has been remanded in custody since his arrest. Picture: Facebook

Mr Herridge was pronounced dead at Parkes Hospital a short time later and Mr Shaw said an autopsy revealed the direct cause of death was the shotgun wound to the chest.

“Of some importance was the blood sample taken from the deceased,” Mr Shaw said.

“One of the items detected was methylamphetamine at 0.33 milligrams per litre. There was a small amount of amphetamine, 0.04 milligrams per litre and that toxicology result was subject to an expert opinion.”

Mr Shaw said expert advice concluded the meth reading was “well above the potential toxic levels of 0.15 milligrams per litre”, however the effect was dependent on a user’s level of tolerance.

“Generally speaking, a person under the influence of methylamphetamine will have increased aggression and potential for violent outbursts,” Mr Shaw said.

The NSW Supreme Court in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

The day after the shooting, Mr Shaw said Mr Price did a “walk-through” of the crime scene with police and said “he was acting to defend himself and his mother in particular”.

“He said he cocked the weapon when he came outside to confront the deceased, he said the deceased was yelling and screaming and coming towards his mother with a bat,” Mr Shaw said.

“The accused said ‘I’ve told him I’ve had it … I’ve told him to stop … I gave him his warning, he didn’t stop he raised the bat higher and went to swing it, I went bang and there it was’.

“The crown case is that the accused, by his actions, deliberately shot the deceased with the shortened firearm to the chest intending to kill him or at the very least, cause really serious physical harm. The crown case on murder is that the accused did not believe his actions were necessary in self-defence because, among other things, he had withdrawn from the altercation into his home.

“He’d taken the time to assemble the firearm and by returning to that altercation with the firearm he was escalating the situation and his actions were not truly in self defence.”

Defence barrister Ian Nash said between the prosecution and defence there was an “unusually large area of agreement, in terms of the circumstances of the death of Mr Herridge”.

Mr Nash said of Mr Price: “his return into the house did not occur until after Mr Herridge had gone back to the area in front of his home, picked up the axe handle and was returning towards my client’s mother and the front of his home”.

“There might be slight disputes about how quickly things happened, although ultimately I think it will be accepted that things happened very quickly in the sense that between the commencement of the argument by the deceased with my client’s mother and the calling of triple-0 in the aftermath of the shooting, it was only a matter of a few minutes.

“Generally, other than that issues as to the sequence of my client returning inside as compared to when Mr Herridge picked up the axe handle, there is very little dispute,” Mr Nash said.

After the opening addresses Stephanie Leonard broke down as she was quizzed about her recollection of her events.

She told the court Mr Herridge picked up the axe after Mr Price came out of the house holding “something”.

“I remember who had a weapon first,” Ms Leonard said.

“That boy come out with nothing and then went back inside and come back out with something then Jesse went and picked up the axe handle.”

Ms Leonard said while Mr Herridge “smoked marijuana on a regular basis” she did not think he was an ice user.

The Judge-alone trial before Justice Stephen Rothman continues.