Robert “Bob” Palmer: Zack Mavin pleads not guilty in NSW Supreme Court murder trial
CCTV has been aired in court of the moment popular Shortland resident Robert “Bob” Palmer was stabbed to death as the man accused of killing him faces trial for murder.
Newcastle
Don't miss out on the headlines from Newcastle. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A judge has been asked to decide whether a man being treated for schizophrenia knew what he was doing was wrong when he stabbed Robert “Bob” Palmer to death on a suburban street.
Zack Mavin, 26, pleaded not guilty in the NSW Supreme Court at Newcastle on Monday to one count each of murder and attempted armed robbery, raising a defence of mental health or cognitive impairment.
Justice Stephen Campbell, who is presiding over the judge-only trial, heard there was no dispute Mavin had stabbed Mr Palmer once in the abdomen during an “altercation” outside the Metro service station on Sandgate Rd, Shortland about 8pm on December 12, 2020.
“The primary issue in this trial for Your Honour is the impact that the accused’s schizophrenia had on his actions on the evening of 12 December 2020,” Crown prosecutor Carl Young told the court in his opening address.
“In particular, whether Your Honour can be satisfied on the balance of probabilities, that at the time the accused did not know that what he was doing was wrong.”
Mr Young told the court he expected evidence that Mavin had attempted to rob an attendant at another Sandgate Rd service station, telling him “just give me the f – king smokes or I‘ll kill you with this chloroform bomb” in the minutes before he stabbed Mr Palmer.
He said Mavin had shown premeditation for the attempted robbery by painting parts of his face and arms with black paint to disguise himself and hide tattoos before he left his home a few hundred metres from the service stations armed with a hammer, two knives and the bottles of liquid.
Mr Young said evidence would show Mavin had been unsuccessful in his robbery attempt before he walked down Sandgate Rd and came across Mr Palmer, who was walking his daughter’s dog, near the Metro service station.
Security vision aired in court show the men appearing to speak - Mavin would later tell police that Mr Palmer was calling him a “useless junkie” - before both men swing punches.
The court heard Mr Palmer landed his punch to Mavin’s jaw before Mavin “advances on a retreating Mr Palmer and stabs him in the abdomen”, Mr Young said.
Mavin leaves as Mr Palmer collapses and is arrested after being tasered on the veranda of his house less than 15 minutes later.
In an interview with police later that evening, Mavin tells them he has “no remorse” after hearing Mr Palmer had died, adding: “he started on me, he shouldn’t have started on me”.
Defence barrister Paul Rosser KC told the court in his opening address that the issue in the trial would be on his client’s state of mind.
The trial continues.
SANE: 1800 18 7263 saneforums.org
‘I couldn’t breathe’: Man on trial for alleged alleyway sexual assault
A woman allegedly sexually assaulted in a Newcastle alleyway by a stranger has given evidence during a trial that she was “terrified” and repeatedly kept saying “no” to her alleged attacker.
Watch: Moment battling snakes turn on gardener
A gardener fascinated by snakes had to make a run for it when two red-bellies turned on him as he filmed a fierce breeding battle. He eventually fended them off with a leaf blower.