Luke Harding allegedly in chokehold before killing mother’s boyfriend Traynor Anton Walters in Warilla home

A court has viewed police footage of a distraught mother moments after her son stabbed her partner to death in the Illawarra with the woman telling officers she thought the deceased “tried to stab” the accused first.

Luke Harding’s NSW Supreme Court trial is being heard in Wollongong.

The mother of a man who stabbed her boyfriend to death claimed the deceased had her son in a chokehold moments before a steak knife skewered through his heart.

Warilla woman Renee Harding gave the testimony during the second day of Luke Kevin Richard Harding’s NSW Supreme Court trial at Wollongong.

Harding, 28, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Traynor Anton Walters in the early hours of July 2, 2022, at his mother’s home, with the Panania man’s barrister Scott Fraser previously submitting he was acting in self defence.

The court previously heard the accused, Mr Walters and Ms Harding, were having dinner and watching an NRL game on television in the hours before the incident.

Traynor Anton Walters was 46-years-old when he was killed.

Crown prosecutor Nerissa Keay, when outlining the case against Harding on Monday, told the court the accused and Mr Walters had a dispute which resulted in the former grabbing the knife from the kitchen and delivering multiple blows to the victim’s body.

The court heard police arrived at the McCabe St home to find blood stains splashed across the lounge room, dining room and kitchen.

On day one of the trial, Ms Harding gave evidence her son was sleeping on a couch when Mr Walters broke a leg off a coffee table which he used to “smash” the accused in the face.

“Luke had blood all over his face, blood squirted all over the wall,” Ms Harding said.

Ms Harding continued in the witness box on Tuesday where she told the court the deceased had her son by the throat and as a result he was “turning blue”.

Luke Harding’s mother Renee Harding spent most of Tuesday in the witness box.

“I wasn’t able to get [Mr Walters] off,” Ms Harding said.

The mother of 10, who had been seeing Mr Walters for about six months when the fatal incident occurred, told the court she was not looking when the deceased was stabbed, adding she did not see either of the men holding a knife.

The court also saw police body cam footage inside the home shortly after 2am which showed Ms Harding, who was visibly shaken, ask: “He’s not going to be charged with murder or anything is he?”

The court heard Ms Harding also told police “I think Anton tried to stab him first”, “He (the accused) had no choice” and “It all just sort of happened”.

When Ms Keay asked Ms Harding about what she told police in the immediate aftermath of the killing she repeatedly said she did not know and struggled to remember.

The trial before Justice Peter Garling continues.

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