Jason Adams ‘forced himself’ on Lily Ridgeway, court hears

A witness has told the NSW Supreme Court she saw alleged murder victim Jason Adams “force himself” on Lily Ridgeway who was holding a knife.

A man screamed at a woman to stab him before “forcing himself on to her” knife, a Sydney murder trial has been told.

Taree woman Lily Ridgeway, 22, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Jason Adams in the early hours of February 29 last year.

Ridgeway and Mr Adams, 27, who met just a few days before his death, had been crashing at Nikita Hanson’s home on Payton Street in Raymond Terrace, near Newcastle.

Lily Ridgeway stands trial for the murder of Jason Adams.

Ms Hanson told the NSW Supreme Court on Monday she let her friend Mr Adams move into her home but quickly changed her mind when he began sexually harassing her.

He was kicked out on Friday night, February 28, before he came back about 5am the next morning “very aggressive”.

“That’s when I could hear him (yell) “Come on c***s let’s have a go”. Come on you f****ing dogs, you wanna put it on?” Ms Hanson told the court.

She agreed Mr Adams was “skitzing out, encouraging a fight, in a rage, fired up and mad”, after being asked the question by defence barrister Madeleine Avenell SC.

In order to protect Ms Hanson, Ridgeway and her cousin Mark Russell left the house to tell Mr Adams to leave, the court heard.

Ms Hanson told the court while she was watching inside her house she heard the deceased tell Ridgeway more than once to stab him, while she held a knife to her side.

Mr Adams was acting in an intimidating, threatening way and moved closer to Ridgeway, before the knife plunged into his stomach, she told the court.

“It was like him forcing himself on to her,” she told the court.

Ms Avenell asked: “So it was like him forcing himself on to her rather than Lily forcing the knife into him?

“Yes,” she responded.

Ms Hanson told the court she called a few friends, a taxi for Ridgeway and then triple zero.

Mr Adams yelled for an ambulance to be called, then stumbled off down the street, where he collapsed and died, the court heard.

Ridgeway was arrested two days later at a North Haven Motel and charged with murder.

The trial returns before Justice Helen Wilson tomorrow.